Disambiguated text message retype function

ABSTRACT

A method of editing delimited ambiguous input on a handheld electronic device, the handheld electronic device including an input apparatus, an output apparatus, and a memory having a plurality of objects stored therein, the plurality of objects including a plurality of language objects and a plurality of frequency objects having a frequency value, the input apparatus including a plurality of input members, at least one of the input members having a plurality of linguistic elements assigned thereto. The method comprises detecting a selection of a language object generated from a first delimited ambiguous input, outputting a plurality of language objects which are complete word solutions of said first delimited ambiguous input, as well as an edit option, and detecting a selection of the edit option.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to handheldelectronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronicdevice having a reduced keyboard and an input disambiguation function,and also relates to an associated method.

2. Background Information

Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples ofsuch handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal dataassistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellulartelephones, and the like. Many handheld electronic devices also featurewireless communication capability, although many such handheldelectronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional withoutcommunication with other devices.

Such handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable,and thus are of a relatively compact configuration in which keys andother input structures often perform multiple functions under certaincircumstances or may otherwise have multiple aspects or featuresassigned thereto. With advances in technology, handheld electronicdevices are built to have progressively smaller form factors yet haveprogressively greater numbers of applications and features residentthereon. As a practical matter, the keys of a keypad can only be reducedto a certain small size before the keys become relatively unusable. Inorder to enable text entry, however, a keypad must be capable ofentering all twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet, for instance, aswell as appropriate punctuation and other symbols.

One way of providing numerous letters in a small space has been toprovide a “reduced keyboard” in which multiple letters, symbols, and/ordigits, and the like, are assigned to any given key. For example, atouch-tone telephone includes a reduced keypad by providing twelve keys,of which ten have digits thereon, and of these ten keys eight have Latinletters assigned thereto. For instance, one of the keys includes thedigit “2” as well as the letters “A”, “B”, and “C”. Other known reducedkeyboards have included other arrangements of keys, letters, symbols,digits, and the like. Since a single actuation of such a key potentiallycould be intended by the user to refer to any of the letters “A”, “B”,and “C”, and potentially could also be intended to refer to the digit“2”, the input generally is an ambiguous input and is in need of sometype of disambiguation in order to be useful for text entry purposes.

In order to enable a user to make use of the multiple letters, digits,and the like on any given key, numerous keystroke interpretation systemshave been provided. For instance, a “multi-tap” system allows a user tosubstantially unambiguously specify a particular character on a key bypressing the same key a number of times equivalent to the position ofthe desired character on the key. For example, on the aforementionedtelephone key that includes the letters “ABC”, and the user desires tospecify the letter “C”, the user will press the key three times. Whilesuch multi-tap systems have been generally effective for their intendedpurposes, they nevertheless can require a relatively large number of keyinputs compared with the number of characters that ultimately areoutput.

Another exemplary keystroke interpretation system would include keychording, of which various types exist. For instance, a particularcharacter can be entered by pressing two keys in succession or bypressing and holding the first key while pressing a second key. Stillanother exemplary keystroke interpretation system would be a“press-and-hold/press-and-release” interpretation function in which agiven key provides a first result if the key is pressed and immediatelyreleased, and provides a second result if the key is pressed and heldfor a short period of time. While the systems have likewise beengenerally effective for their intended purposes, such systems also havetheir own unique drawbacks.

Another keystroke interpretation system that has been employed is asoftware-based text disambiguation function. In such a system, a usertypically presses keys to which one or more characters have beenassigned, generally pressing each key one time for each desired letter,and the disambiguation software attempts to determine the intendedinput. More specifically, the disambiguation software produces a list ofsuggested words that the user may select while typing a message.Numerous such systems have been proposed and have become so reliablethat the message that the user intended to type is often determinedcorrectly even if the user completely ignores the suggested words.Because typing is faster if the user ignores the displayed lists ofsuggested words and because the message is usually determined correctlyby the disambiguation software anyway, the user may develop a habit ofignoring the displayed lists of suggested words.

Unfortunately, there are some words that the software disambiguationsoftware often gets wrong. For example, a certain sequence of keystrokesmay represent multiple language objects (e.g., multiple words within adictionary). Should the user continue typing, the disambiguationsoftware may automatically select one of the language objects, possiblyone which was not intended by the user. As another example, a certainsequence of keystrokes may represent a language object that is notrecognized by the disambiguation software (e.g., a word that is notwithin a dictionary). Again, should the user continue typing, thedisambiguation software may automatically select a language object thatwas not intended by the user. Because of the user's habit of ignoringthe suggested words, the user may send an incorrect message or spendextra time proofreading the message after completion.

It would be desirable to provide an improved handheld electronic devicewith a reduced keyboard that seeks to mimic a QWERTY keyboard experienceor other particular keyboard experience. Such an improved handheldelectronic device might also desirably be configured with enoughfeatures to enable text entry and other tasks with relative ease. Morespecifically, it would be desirable for such an improved handheldelectronic device to have improved message editing capabilities such as,but not limited to, providing the user the capability to selectivelyedit and/or delete a word during a message review process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full understanding of the concept can be gained from the followingDescription of the Preferred Embodiment when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an improved handheld electronic device inaccordance with the concept;

FIG. 2 is a schematic depiction of the improved handheld electronicdevice of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 a is a schematic depiction of a portion of the handheldelectronic device of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b are an exemplary flowchart depicting certain aspectsof a disambiguation function that can be executed on the handheldelectronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is another exemplary flowchart depicting certain aspects of adisambiguation function that can be executed on the handheld electronicdevice by which certain output variants can be provided to the user;

FIGS. 5 a and 5 b are another exemplary flowchart depicting certainaspects of the learning method that can be executed on the handheldelectronic device;

FIG. 6 is another exemplary flowchart depicting certain aspects of amethod by which various display formats that can be provided on thehandheld electronic device;

FIG. 6A are another exemplary flowchart depicting certain aspects of themethod that can be executed on the handheld electronic device;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary output during a text entry operation;

FIG. 8 is another exemplary output during another part of the text entryoperation;

FIG. 9 is another exemplary output during another part of the text entryoperation;

FIG. 10 is another exemplary output during another part of the textentry operation;

FIG. 11 is an exemplary output on the handheld electronic device duringanother text entry operation;

FIG. 12 is an exemplary output that can be provided in an instance whenthe disambiguation function of the handheld electronic device has beendisabled; and

FIGS. 13-20 illustrate exemplary outputs on the handheld electronicdevice implementing a disambiguated text message review function.

FIG. 21 is a top plan view of an improved handheld electronic device inaccordance with another embodiment of the disclosed and claimed concept;

FIG. 22 depicts an exemplary menu that can be output on the handheldelectronic device of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 depicts another exemplary menu;

FIG. 24 depicts an exemplary reduced menu;

FIG. 25 is an exemplary output such as could occur during a text entryor text editing operation;

FIG. 26 is an exemplary output during a text entry operation;

FIG. 27 is an alternative exemplary output during a text entryoperation;

FIG. 28 is another exemplary output during a part of text entryoperation;

FIG. 29 is an exemplary output during a data entry operation;

FIG. 30 is a top plan view of an improved handheld electronic device inaccordance with still another embodiment of the disclosed and claimedconcept; and

FIG. 31 is a schematic depiction of the improved handheld electronicdevice of FIG. 30.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An improved handheld electronic device 4 is indicated generally in FIG.1 and is depicted schematically in FIG. 2. The exemplary handheldelectronic device 4 includes a housing 6 upon which are disposed aprocessor unit that includes an input apparatus 8, an output apparatus12, a processor 16, a memory 20, and at least a first routine. Theprocessor 16 may be, for instance, and without limitation, amicroprocessor (μP) and is responsive to inputs from the input apparatus8 and provides output signals to the output apparatus 12. The processor16 also interfaces with the memory 20. Examples of handheld electronicdevices are included in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,452,588 and 6,489,950, whichare incorporated by reference herein.

As can be understood from FIG. 1, the input apparatus 8 includes akeypad 24 and a thumbwheel 32. The thumbwheel 32 is, generally,structured to allow rapid movement of a cursor, such as when movingbetween words or choices on a menu. Other input devices, such as, butnot limited to, a trackball or a touch sensitive pad (not shown) may beused in place of the thumbwheel 32. The keypad 24 is, generally,structured to allow individual character input. As will be described ingreater detail below, the keypad 24 is in the exemplary form of areduced QWERTY keyboard including a plurality of keys 28 that serve asinput members. It is noted, however, that the keypad 24 may be of otherconfigurations, such as an AZERTY keyboard, a QWERTZ keyboard, or otherkeyboard arrangement, whether presently known or unknown, and eitherreduced or not reduced. As employed herein, the expression “reduced” andvariations thereof in the context of a keyboard, a keypad, or otherarrangement of input members, shall refer broadly to an arrangement inwhich at least one of the input members has assigned thereto a pluralityof linguistic elements such as, for example, characters in the set ofLatin letters, whereby an actuation of the at least one of the inputmembers, without another input in combination therewith, is an ambiguousinput since it could refer to more than one of the plurality oflinguistic elements assigned thereto. As employed herein, the expression“linguistic element” and variations thereof shall refer broadly to anyelement that itself can be a language object or from which a languageobject can be constructed, identified, or otherwise obtained, and thuswould include, for example and without limitation, characters, letters,strokes, ideograms, phonemes, morphemes, digits, and the like. Asemployed herein, the expression “language object” and variations thereofshall refer broadly to any type of object that may be constructed,identified, or otherwise obtained from one or more linguistic elements,that can be used alone or in combination to generate text, and thatwould include, for example and without limitation, words, shortcuts,symbols, ideograms, and the like.

The system architecture of the handheld electronic device 4advantageously is organized to be operable independent of the specificlayout of the keypad 24. Accordingly, the system architecture of thehandheld electronic device 4 can be employed in conjunction withvirtually any keypad layout substantially without requiring anymeaningful change in the system architecture. It is further noted thatcertain of the features set forth herein are usable on either or both ofa reduced keyboard and a non-reduced keyboard.

The keys 28 are disposed on a front face of the housing 6, and thethumbwheel 32 is disposed at a side of the housing 6. The thumbwheel 32can serve as another input member and is both rotatable, as is indicatedby the arrow 34, to provide inputs to the processor 16, and also can bepressed in a direction generally toward the housing 6, as is indicatedby the arrow 38, to provide other input to the processor 16.

Among the keys 28 of the keypad 24 are a <NEXT> key 40 and an <ENTER>key 44. The <NEXT> key 40 can be pressed to provide an input to theprocessor 16 and provides substantially the same input as is provided bya rotational input of the thumbwheel 32. Since the <NEXT> key 40 isprovided adjacent a number of the other keys 28 of the keypad 24, theuser can provide an input to the processor 16 substantially withoutmoving the user's hands away from the keypad 24 during a text entryoperation. As will be described in greater detail below, the <NEXT> key40 additionally and advantageously includes a graphic 42 disposedthereon, and in certain circumstances the output apparatus 12 alsodisplays a displayed graphic 46 thereon to identify the <NEXT> key 40 asbeing able to provide an input to the processor 16. In this regard, thedisplayed graphic 46 of the output apparatus 12 is substantially similarto the graphic 42 on the <NEXT> key and thus identifies the <NEXT> key40 as being capable of providing a desirable input to the processor 16.

As can further be seen in FIG. 1, many of the keys 28 include a numberof linguistic elements 48 disposed thereon. As employed herein, theexpression “a number of” and variations thereof shall refer broadly toany quantity, including a quantity of one. In the exemplary depiction ofthe keypad 24, many of the keys 28 include two linguistic elements 48,such as including a first linguistic element 52 and a second linguisticelement 56 assigned thereto.

One of the keys 28 of the keypad 24 includes as the characters 48thereof the letters “Q” and “W”, and an adjacent key 28 includes as thecharacters 48 thereof the letters “E” and “R”. It can be seen that thearrangement of the characters 48 on the keys 28 of the keypad 24 isgenerally of a QWERTY arrangement, albeit with many of the keys 28including two of the characters 48.

The output apparatus 12 includes a display 60 upon which can be providedan output 64. An exemplary output 64 is depicted on the display 60 inFIG. 1. The output 64 includes a text component 68 and a variantcomponent 72. The variant component 72 includes a default portion 76 anda variant portion 80. The display 60 also includes a caret 84 thatdepicts generally where the next input from the input apparatus 8 willbe received.

The text component 68 of the output 64 provides a depiction of thedefault portion 76 of the output 64 at a location on the display 60where the text is being input. The variant component 72 is disposedgenerally in the vicinity of the text component 68 and provides, inaddition to the default portion 76, a depiction of the various alternatetext choices, i.e., alternates to the default portion 76, that areproposed by an input disambiguation function in response to an inputsequence of key actuations of the keys 28.

As will be described in greater detail below, the default portion 76 isproposed by the disambiguation function as being the most likelydisambiguated interpretation of the ambiguous input provided by theuser. The variant portion 80 includes a predetermined quantity ofalternate proposed interpretations of the same ambiguous input fromwhich the user can select, if desired. The displayed graphic 46,typically, is provided in the variant component 72 in the vicinity ofthe variant portion 80, although it is understood that the displayedgraphic 46 could be provided in other locations and in other fashionswithout departing from the concept. It is also noted that the exemplaryvariant portion 80 is depicted herein as extending vertically below thedefault portion 76, but it is understood that numerous otherarrangements could be provided without departing from the concept.

Among the keys 28 of the keypad 24 additionally is a <DELETE> key 86that can be provided to delete a text entry. As will be described ingreater detail below, the <DELETE> key 86 can also be employed inproviding an alternation input to the processor 16 for use by thedisambiguation function.

The memory 20 is depicted schematically in FIG. 2A. The memory 20 can beany of a variety of types of internal and/or external storage media suchas, without limitation, RAM, ROM, EPROM(s), EEPROM(s), and the like thatprovide a storage register for data storage such as in the fashion of aninternal storage area of a computer, and can be volatile memory ornonvolatile memory. The memory 20 additionally includes a number ofroutines depicted generally with the numeral 22 for the processing ofdata. The routines 22 can be in any of a variety of forms such as,without limitation, software, firmware, and the like. As will beexplained in greater detail below, the routines 22 include theaforementioned disambiguation function as an application, as well asother routines.

As can be understood from FIG. 2A, the memory 20 additionally includesdata stored and/or organized in a number of tables, sets, lists, and/orotherwise. Specifically, the memory 20 includes a generic word list 88,a new words database 92, and a frequency learning database 96. Storedwithin the various areas of the memory 20 are a number of languageobjects 100 and frequency objects 104. The language objects 100generally are each associated with an associated frequency object 104.The language objects 100 include, in the present exemplary embodiment, aplurality of word objects 108 and a plurality of N-gram objects 112. Theword objects 108 are generally representative of complete words withinthe language or custom words stored in the memory 20. For instance, ifthe language stored in the memory 20 is, for example, English, generallyeach word object 108 would represent a word in the English language orwould represent a custom word.

Associated with substantially each word object 108 is a frequency object104 having frequency value that is indicative of the relative frequencywithin the relevant language of the given word represented by the wordobject 108. In this regard, the generic word list 88 includes a corpusof word objects 108 and associated frequency objects 104 that togetherare representative of a wide variety of words and their relativefrequency within a given vernacular of, for instance, a given language.The generic word list 88 can be derived in any of a wide variety offashions, such as by analyzing numerous texts and other language sourcesto determine the various words within the language sources as well astheir relative probabilities, i.e., relative frequencies of occurrencesof the various words within the language sources.

The N-gram objects 112 stored within the generic word list 88 are shortstrings of characters within the relevant language typically, forexample, one to three characters in length, and typically represent wordfragments within the relevant language, although certain of the N-gramobjects 112 additionally can themselves be words. However, to the extentthat an N-gram object 112 also is a word within the relevant language,the same word likely would be separately stored as a word object 108within the generic word list 88. As employed herein, the expression“string” and variations thereof shall refer broadly to an object havingone or more characters or components, and can refer to any of a completeword, a fragment of a word, a custom word or expression, and the like.

In the present exemplary embodiment of the handheld electronic device 4,the N-gram objects 112 include 1-gram objects, i.e., string objects thatare one character in length, 2-gram objects, i.e., string objects thatare two characters in length, and 3-gram objects, i.e., string objectsthat are three characters in length, all of which are collectivelyreferred to as N-grams objects 112. Substantially each N-gram object 112in the generic word list 88 is similarly associated with an associatedfrequency object 104 stored within the generic word list 88, but thefrequency object 104 associated with a given N-gram object 112 has afrequency value that indicates the relative probability that thecharacter string represented by the particular N-gram object 112 existsat any location within any word of the relevant language. The N-gramobjects 112 and the associated frequency objects 104 are a part of thecorpus of the generic word list 88 and are obtained in a fashion similarto the way in which the word object 108 and the associated frequencyobjects 104 are obtained, although the analysis performed in obtainingthe N-gram objects 112 will be slightly different because it willinvolve analysis of the various character strings within the variouswords instead of relying primarily on the relative occurrence of a givenword.

The present exemplary embodiment of the handheld electronic device 4,with its exemplary language being the English language, includestwenty-six 1-gram N-gram objects 112, i.e., one 1-gram object for eachof the twenty-six letters in the Latin alphabet upon which the Englishlanguage is based, and further includes 676 2-gram N-gram objects 112,i.e., twenty-six squared, representing each two-letter permutation ofthe twenty-six letters within the Latin alphabet.

The N-gram objects 112 also include a certain quantity of 3-gram N-gramobjects 112, primarily those that have a relatively high frequencywithin the relevant language. The exemplary embodiment of the handheldelectronic device 4 includes fewer than all of the three-letterpermutations of the twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet due toconsiderations of data storage size, and also because the 2-gram N-gramobjects 112 can already provide a meaningful amount of informationregarding the relevant language. As will be set forth in greater detailbelow, the N-gram objects 112 and their associated frequency objects 104provide frequency data that can be attributed to character strings forwhich a corresponding word object 108 cannot be identified or has notbeen identified, and typically is employed as a fallback data source,although this need not be exclusively the case.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the language objects 100 and thefrequency objects 104 are maintained substantially inviolate in thegeneric word list 88, meaning that the basic language corpus remainssubstantially unaltered within the generic word list 88, and thelearning functions that are provided by the handheld electronic device 4and that are described below operate in conjunction with other objectsthat are generally stored elsewhere in memory 20, such as, for example,in the new words database 92 and the frequency learning database 96.

The new words database 92 and the frequency learning database 96 storeadditional word objects 108 and associated frequency objects 104 inorder to provide to a user a customized experience in which words andthe like that are used relatively more frequently by a user will beassociated with relatively higher frequency values than might otherwisebe reflected in the generic word list 88. More particularly, the newwords database 92 includes word objects 108 that are user-defined andthat generally are not found among the word objects 108 of the genericword list 88. Each word object 108 in the new words database 92 hasassociated therewith an associated frequency object 104 that is alsostored in the new words database 92. The frequency learning database 96stores word objects 108 and associated frequency objects 104 that areindicative of relatively more frequent usage of such words by a userthan would be reflected in the generic word list 88. As such, the newwords database 92 and the frequency learning database 96 provide twolearning functions, that is, they together provide the ability to learnnew words as well the ability to learn altered frequency values forknown words.

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b depict in an exemplary fashion the general operationof certain aspects of the disambiguation function of the handheldelectronic device 4. Additional features, functions, and the like aredepicted and described elsewhere.

An input is detected, as at 204, and the input can be any type ofactuation or other operation as to any portion of the input apparatus 8.A typical input would include, for instance, an actuation of a key 28having a number of characters 48 thereon, or any other type of actuationor manipulation of the input apparatus 8.

Upon detection at 204 of an input, a timer is reset at 208. The use ofthe timer will be described in greater detail below.

The disambiguation function then determines, as at 212, whether thecurrent input is an operational input, such as a selection input, adelimiter input, a movement input, an alternation input, or, forinstance, any other input that does not constitute an actuation of a key28 having a number of characters 48 thereon. If the input is determinedat 212 to not be an operational input, processing continues at 216 byadding the input to the current input sequence which may or may notalready include an input.

Many of the inputs detected at 204 are employed in generating inputsequences as to which the disambiguation function will be executed. Aninput sequence is built up in each “session” with each actuation of akey 28 having a number of characters 48 thereon. Since an inputsequence, typically, will be made up of at least one actuation of a key28 having a plurality of characters 48 thereon, the input sequence willbe ambiguous. When a word, for example, is delimited the current sessionis ended and a new session is initiated.

An input sequence is gradually built up on the handheld electronicdevice 4 with each successive actuation of a key 28 during any givensession. Specifically, once a delimiter input is detected during anygiven session, the session is terminated and a new session is initiated.Each input resulting from an actuation of one of the keys 28 having anumber of the characters 48 associated therewith is sequentially addedto the current input sequence. As the input sequence grows during agiven session, the disambiguation function generally is executed witheach actuation of a key 28, i.e., an input, and as to the entire inputsequence. Stated otherwise, within a given session, the growing inputsequence is attempted to be disambiguated as a unit by thedisambiguation function with each successive actuation of the variouskeys 28.

Once a current input representing a most recent actuation of the one ofthe keys 28 having a number of the characters 48 assigned thereto hasbeen added to the current input sequence within the current session, asat 216 in FIG. 3 a, the disambiguation function generates, as at 220,substantially all of the permutations of the characters 48 assigned tothe various keys 28 that were actuated in generating the input sequence.In this regard, the “permutations” refer to the various strings that canresult from the characters 48 of each actuated key 28 limited by theorder in which the keys 28 were actuated. The various permutations ofthe characters in the input sequence are employed as prefix objects.

For instance, if the current input sequence within the current sessionis the ambiguous input of the keys “AS” and “OP”, the variouspermutations of the first character 52 and the second character 56 ofeach of the two keys 28, when considered in the sequence in which thekeys 28 were actuated, would be “SO”, “SP”, “AP”, and “AO”, and each ofthese is a prefix object that is generated, as at 220, with respect tothe current input sequence. As will be explained in greater detailbelow, the disambiguation function seeks to identify for each prefixobject one of the word objects 108 for which the prefix object would bea prefix.

The method also determines, as at 222, whether or not the input fieldinto which language is being entered is a “special” input field. In thisregard, a special input field is one to which particular stored data canbe of particular relevance, and such particular stored data and istherefore sought to be obtained first before obtaining other data. Ineffect, therefore, the method can, for instance, provide proposed outputresults that are particularly suited to the input field. As such, theoutput results are more likely to be the results desired by the userthan otherwise might be the case if all of the data sources weresearched in the usual fashion to provide proposed disambiguationresults. If the input field is determined 222 by the method to bespecial, a special flag is set and processing is transferred, as at 226,for further processing, as at 604 in FIG. 6A, as will be discussed ingreater detail below.

If, however, the input field is determined as at 222 to not be special,processing continues at 224. For each generated prefix object, thememory 20 is consulted, as at 224—described below, to identify, ifpossible, for each prefix object one of the word objects 108 in thememory 20 that corresponds with the prefix object, meaning that thesequence of letters represented by the prefix object would be either aprefix of the identified word object 108 or would be substantiallyidentical to the entirety of the word object 108. Further in thisregard, the word object 108 that is sought to be identified is thehighest frequency word object 108. That is, the disambiguation functionseeks to identify the word object 108 that corresponds with the prefixobject and that also is associated with a frequency object 104 having arelatively higher frequency value than any of the other frequencyobjects 104 associated with the other word objects 108 that correspondwith the prefix object.

It is noted in this regard that the word objects 108 in the generic wordlist 88 are generally organized in data tables that correspond with thefirst two letters of various words. For instance, the data tablecorresponding with the prefix “CO” would include all of the words suchas “CODE”, “COIN”, “COMMUNICATION”, and the like. Depending upon thequantity of word objects 108 within any given data table, the data tablemay additionally include sub-data tables within which word objects 108are organized by prefixes that are three characters or more in length.Continuing onward with the foregoing example, if the “CO” data tableincluded, for instance, more than 256 word objects 108, the “CO” datatable would additionally include one or more sub-data tables of wordobjects 108 corresponding with the most frequently appearingthree-letter prefixes. By way of example, therefore, the “CO” data tablemay also include a “COM” sub-data table and a “CON” sub-data table. If asub-data table includes more than the predetermined number of wordobjects 108, for example a quantity of 256, the sub-data table mayinclude further sub-data tables, such as might be organized according toa four letter prefixes. It is noted that the aforementioned quantity of256 of the word objects 108 corresponds with the greatest numericalvalue that can be stored within one byte of the memory 20.

Accordingly, when, at 224, each prefix object is sought to be used toidentify a corresponding word object 108, and for instance the instantprefix object is “AP”, the “AP” data table will be consulted. Since allof the word objects 108 in the “AP” data table will correspond with theprefix object “AP”, the word object 108 in the “AP” data table withwhich is associated a frequency object 104 having a frequency valuerelatively higher than any of the other frequency objects 104 in the“AP” data table is identified. The identified word object 108 and theassociated frequency object 104 are then stored in a result registerthat serves as a result of the various comparisons of the generatedprefix objects with the contents of the memory 20.

It is noted that one or more, or possibly all, of the prefix objectswill be prefix objects for which a corresponding word object 108 is notidentified in the memory 20. Such prefix objects are considered to beorphan prefix objects and are separately stored or are otherwiseretained for possible future use. In this regard, it is noted that manyor all of the prefix objects can become an orphan object if, forinstance, the user is trying to enter a new word or, for example, if theuser has mis-keyed and no word corresponds with the mis-keyed input.

Once the result has been obtained at 224, the disambiguation functiondetermines, as at 228, whether artificial variants should be generated.In order to determine the need for artificial variants, the process at228 branches, as at 230, to the artificial variant process depictedgenerally in FIG. 4 and beginning with the numeral 304. Thedisambiguation function then determines, as at 308, whether any of theprefix objects in the result correspond with what had been the defaultoutput 76 prior to detection of the current key input. If a prefixobject in the result corresponds with the previous default output, thismeans that the current input sequence corresponds with a word object 108and, necessarily, the previous default output also corresponded with aword object 108 during the previous disambiguation cycle within thecurrent session.

The next point of analysis is to determine, as at 310, whether theprevious default output was made the default output because of aselection input, such as would have caused the setting of a flag, suchas at 254 of FIG. 3 b, discussed in greater detail below. In the eventthat the previous default output was not the result of a selectioninput, no artificial variants are needed, and the process returns, as at312, to the main process at 232. However, if it is determined at 310that the previous default output was the result of a selection input,then artificial variants are generated, as at 316.

More specifically, each of the artificial variants generated at 316include the previous default output plus one of the characters 48assigned to the key 28 of the current input. As such, if the key 28 ofthe current input has two characters, i.e., a first character 52 and asecond character 56, two artificial variants will be generated at 316.One of the artificial variants will include the previous default outputplus the first character 52. The other artificial variant will includethe previous default output plus the second character 56.

However, if it is determined at 308 that none of the prefix objects inthe result correspond with the previous default output, it is nextnecessary to determine, as at 314, whether the previous default outputhad corresponded with a word object 108 during the previousdisambiguation cycle within the current session. If the answer to theinquiry at 314 is no, it is still necessary to determine, as at 318,whether the previous default output was made the default output becauseof a selection input, such as would have caused the setting of the flag.In the event that the previous default output was not the result of aselection input, no artificial variants are needed, and the processreturns, as at 312, to the main process at 232. However, if it isdetermined at 318 that the previous default output was the result of aselection input, then artificial variants are generated, as at 316.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the answer to the inquiry at314 is yes, meaning that the previous default output had correspondedwith a word object, but with the current input the previous defaultoutput combined with the current input has ceased to correspond with anyword object 108, then artificial variants are generated, again as at316.

After the artificial variants are generated at 316, the method thendetermines, as at 320, whether the result includes any prefix objects atall. If not, processing returns, as at 312, to the main process at 232.However, if it is determined at 320 that the result includes at least afirst prefix object, meaning that the current input sequence correspondswith a word object 108, processing is transferred to 324 where anadditional artificial variant is created. Specifically, the prefixobject of the result with which is associated the frequency object 104having the relatively highest frequency value among the other frequencyobjects 104 in the result is identified, and the artificial variant iscreated by deleting the final character 48 from the identified prefixobject and replacing it with an opposite character 48 on the same key 28of the current input that generated the final character 48 of theidentified prefix object. In the event that the specific key 28 has morethan two characters 48 assigned thereto, each such opposite character 48will be used to generate an additional artificial variant.

Once the need for artificial variants has been identified, as at 228,and such artificial variants have been generated, as in FIG. 4 and asdescribed above, processing continues, as at 232, where duplicate wordobjects 108 associated with relatively lower frequency values aredeleted from the result. Such a duplicate word object 108 could begenerated, for instance, by the frequency learning database 96, as willbe set forth in greater detail below. If a word object 108 in the resultmatches one of the artificial variants, the word object 108 and itsassociated frequency object 104 generally will be removed from theresult because the artificial variant will be assigned a preferredstatus in the display output 64, likely in a position preferred to anyword object 108 that might have been identified.

Once the duplicate word objects 108 and the associated frequency objects104 have been removed at 232, the remaining prefix objects are arranged,as at 236, in an output set in decreasing order of frequency value. Theorphan prefix objects mentioned above may also be added to the outputset, albeit at positions of relatively lower frequency value than anyprefix object for which a corresponding word object 108 was found. It isalso necessary to ensure that the artificial variants, if they have beencreated, are placed at a preferred position in the output set. It isunderstood that artificial variants may, but need not necessarily be,given a position of preference, i.e., assigned a relatively higherpriority or frequency, than prefix objects of the result.

If it is determined, as at 240, that the flag has been set, meaning thata user has made a selection input, either through an express selectioninput or through an alternation input or a movement input, then thedefault portion 76 is considered to be “locked,” meaning that theselected variant will be the default prefix until the end of thesession. If it is determined at 240 that the flag has been set, theprocessing will proceed to 244 where the contents of the output set willbe altered, if needed, to provide as the default portion 76 an outputthat includes the selected prefix object, whether it corresponds with aword object 108 or is an artificial variant. In this regard, it isunderstood that the flag can be set additional times during a session,in which case the selected prefix associated with resetting of the flagthereafter becomes the “locked” default portion 76 until the end of thesession or until another selection input is detected.

Processing then continues, as at 248, to an output step after which adisplay output 64 is generated as described above. More specifically,processing proceeds, as at 250, to the subsystem depicted generally inFIG. 6 and described below. Processing thereafter continues at 204 whereadditional input is detected. On the other hand, if it is determined at240 that the flag had not been set, then processing goes directly to 248without the alteration of the contents of the output set at 244.

The handheld electronic device 4 may be configured such that any orphanprefix object that is included in an display output 64 but that is notselected with the next input is suspended. This may be limited to orphanprefix objects appearing in the variant portion 80 or may apply toorphan prefix objects anywhere in the display output 64. The handheldelectronic device 4 may also be configured to similarly suspendartificial variants in similar circumstances. A reason for suchsuspension is that each such orphan prefix object and/or artificialvariant, as appropriate, may spawn a quantity of offspring orphan prefixobjects equal to the quantity of characters 48 on a key 28 of the nextinput. That is, each offspring will include the parent orphan prefixobject or artificial variant plus one of the characters 48 of the key 28of the next input. Since orphan prefix objects and artificial variantssubstantially do not have correspondence with a word object 108, spawnedoffspring objects from parent orphan prefix objects and artificialvariants likewise will not have correspondence with a word object 108.Such suspended orphan prefix objects and/or artificial variants may beconsidered to be suspended, as compared with being wholly eliminated,since such suspended orphan prefix objects and/or artificial variantsmay reappear later as parents of spawned orphan prefix objects and/orartificial variants, as will be explained below.

If the detected input is determined, as at 212, to be an operationalinput, processing then continues to determine the specific nature of theoperational input. For instance, if it is determined, as at 252, thatthe current input is a selection input, processing continues at 254. At254, the word object 108 and the associated frequency object 104 of thedefault portion 76 of the display output 64, as well as the word object108 and the associated frequency object 104 of the portion of thevariant portion 80 that was selected by the selection input, are storedin a temporary learning data register. Additionally, the flag is set.Processing then returns to detection of additional inputs as at 204.

If it is determined, as at 260, that the input is a delimiter input,processing continues at 264 where the current session is terminated andprocessing is transferred, as at 266, to the learning functionsubsystem, as at 404 of FIG. 5 a. A delimiter input would include, forexample, the actuation of a <SPACE> key 116, which would both enter adelimiter symbol and would add a space at the end of the word, actuationof the <ENTER> key 44, which might similarly enter a delimiter input andenter a space, and by a translation of the thumbwheel 32, such as isindicated by the arrow 38, which might enter a delimiter input withoutadditionally entering a space.

It is first determined, as at 408, whether the default output at thetime of the detection of the delimiter input at 260 matches a wordobject 108 in the memory 20. If it does not, this means that the defaultoutput is a user-created output that should be added to the new wordsdatabase 92 for future use. In such a circumstance processing thenproceeds to 412 where the default output is stored in the new wordsdatabase 92 as a new word object 108. Additionally, a frequency object104 is stored in the new words database 92 and is associated with theaforementioned new word object 108. The new frequency object 104 isgiven a relatively high frequency value, typically within the upperone-fourth or one-third of a predetermined range of possible frequencyvalues.

In this regard, frequency objects 104 are given an absolute frequencyvalue generally in the range of zero to 65,535. The maximum valuerepresents the largest number that can be stored within two bytes of thememory 20. The new frequency object 104 that is stored in the new wordsdatabase 92 is assigned an absolute frequency value within the upperone-fourth or one-third of this range, particularly since the new wordwas used by a user and is likely to be used again.

With further regard to frequency object 104, it is noted that within agiven data table, such as the “CO” data table mentioned above, theabsolute frequency value is stored only for the frequency object 104having the highest frequency value within the data table. All of theother frequency objects 104 in the same data table have frequency valuesstored as percentage values normalized to the aforementioned maximumabsolute frequency value. That is, after identification of the frequencyobject 104 having the highest frequency value within a given data table,all of the other frequency objects 104 in the same data table areassigned a percentage of the absolute maximum value, which representsthe ratio of the relatively smaller absolute frequency value of aparticular frequency object 104 to the absolute frequency value of theaforementioned highest value frequency object 104. Advantageously, suchpercentage values can be stored within a single byte of memory 20, thussaving storage space within the handheld electronic device 4.

Upon creation of the new word object 108 and the new frequency object104, and storage thereof within the new words database 92, processing istransferred to 420 where the learning process is terminated. Processingis then returned to the main process, as at 204.

If at 408 it is determined that the word object 108 in the defaultportion 76 matches a word object 108 within the memory 20, processingthen continues at 416 where it is determined whether the aforementionedflag has been set, such as occurs upon the detection of a selectioninput, an alternation input, or a movement input, by way of example. Ifit turns out that the flag has not been set, this means that the userhas not expressed a preference for a variant prefix object over adefault prefix object, and no need for frequency learning has arisen. Insuch a circumstance, processing continues at 420 where the learningprocess is terminated. Processing then returns to the main process at204.

However, if it is determined at 416 that the flag has been set, theprocessor 16 retrieves from the temporary learning data register themost recently saved default and variant word objects 108, along withtheir associated frequency objects 104. It is then determined, as at428, whether the default and variant word objects 108 had previouslybeen subject of a frequency learning operation. This might bedetermined, for instance, by determining whether the variant word object108 and the associated frequency object 104 were obtained from thefrequency learning database 96. If the default and variant word objects108 had not previously been the subject of a frequency learningoperation, processing continues, as at 432, where the variant wordobject 108 is stored in the frequency learning database 96, and arevised frequency object 104 is generated having a frequency valuegreater than that of the frequency object 104 that previously had beenassociated with the variant word object 108. In the present exemplarycircumstance, i.e., where the default word object 108 and the variantword object 108 are experiencing their first frequency learningoperation, the revised frequency object 104 may, for instance, be givena frequency value equal to the sum of the frequency value of thefrequency object 104 previously associated with the variant word object108 plus one-half the difference between the frequency value of thefrequency object 104 associated with the default word object 108 and thefrequency value of the frequency object 104 previously associated withthe variant word object 108. Upon storing the variant word object 108and the revised frequency object 104 in the frequency learning database96, processing continues at 420 where the learning process is terminatedand processing returns to the main process, as at 204.

If it is determined at 428 that that default word object 108 and thevariant word object 108 had previously been the subject of a frequencylearning operation, processing continues to 436 where the revisedfrequency value 104 is instead given a frequency value higher than thefrequency value of the frequency object 104 associated with the defaultword object 108. After storage of the variant word object 108 and therevised frequency object 104 in the frequency learning database 96,processing continues to 420 where the learning process is terminated,and processing then returns to the main process, as at 204.

With further regard to the learning function, it is noted that thelearning function additionally detects whether both the default wordobject 108 and the variant word object 108 were obtained from thefrequency learning database 96. In this regard, when word objects 108are identified, as at 224, for correspondence with generated prefixobjects, all of the data sources in the memory 20 are polled for suchcorresponding word objects 108 and associated frequency objects 104.Since the frequency learning database 96 stores word objects 108 thatalso are stored either in the generic word list 88 or the new wordsdatabase 92, the word object 108 and the associated frequency object 104that are obtained from the frequency learning database 96 typically areduplicates of word objects 108 that have already been obtained from thegeneric word list 88 or the new words database 92. However, theassociated frequency object 104 obtained from the frequency learningdatabase 96, typically, has a frequency value that is of a greatermagnitude than that of the associated frequency object 104 that had beenobtained from the generic word list 88. This reflects the nature of thefrequency learning database 96 as imparting to a frequently used wordobject 108 a relatively greater frequency value than it otherwise wouldhave in the generic word list 88.

It thus can be seen that the learning function indicated in FIGS. 5 aand 5 b and described above is generally not initiated until a delimiterinput is detected, meaning that learning occurs only once for eachsession. Additionally, if the final default output is not a user-definednew word, the word objects 108 that are the subject of the frequencylearning function are the word objects 108 which were associated withthe default portion 76 and the selected variant portion 80 at the timewhen the selection occurred, rather than necessarily being related tothe object that ultimately resulted as the default output at the end ofthe session. Also, if numerous learnable events occurred during a singlesession, the frequency learning function operates only on the wordobjects 108 that were associated with the final learnable event, i.e., aselection event, an alternation event, or a movement event, prior totermination of the current session.

With further regard to the identification of various word objects 108for correspondence with generated prefix objects, it is noted that thememory 20 can include a number of additional data sources 99 in additionto the generic word list 88, the new words database 92, and thefrequency learning database 96, all of which can be consideredlinguistic sources. An exemplary two other data sources 99 are depictedin FIG. 2 a, it being understood that the memory 20 might include anynumber of other data sources 99. The other data sources 99 mightinclude, for example, an address database, a speed-text database, or anyother data source without limitation. An exemplary speed-text databasemight include, for example, sets of words or expressions or other datathat are each associated with, for example, a character string that maybe abbreviated. For example, a speed-text database might associate thestring “br” with the set of words “Best Regards”, with the intentionthat a user can type the string “br” and receive the output “BestRegards”.

In seeking to identify word objects 108 that correspond with a givenprefix object, the handheld electronic device 4 may poll all of the datasources in the memory 20. For instance the handheld electronic device 4may poll the generic word list 88, the new words database 92, thefrequency learning database 96, and the other data sources 99 toidentify word objects 108 that correspond with the prefix object. Thecontents of the other data sources 99 may be treated as word objects108, and the processor 16 may generate frequency objects 104 that willbe associated with such word objects 108 and to which may be assigned afrequency value in, for example, the upper one-third or one-fourth ofthe aforementioned frequency range. Assuming that the assigned frequencyvalue is sufficiently high, the string “br”, for example, wouldtypically be output to the display 60. If a delimiter input is detectedwith respect to the portion of the output having the association withthe word object 108 in the speed-text database, for instance “br”, theuser would receive the output “Best Regards”, it being understood thatthe user might also have entered a selection input as to the exemplarystring “br”.

The contents of any of the other data sources 99 may be treated as wordobjects 108 and may be associated with generated frequency objects 104having the assigned frequency value in the aforementioned upper portionof the frequency range. After such word objects 108 are identified, thenew word learning function can, if appropriate, act upon such wordobjects 108 in the fashion set forth above.

Again regarding FIG. 3 a, when processing proceeds to the filtrationstep, as at 232, and the duplicate word objects 108 and the associatedfrequency objects 104 having relatively lower frequency values arefiltered, the remaining results may include a variant word object 108and a default word object 108, both of which were obtained from thefrequency learning database 96. In such a situation, it can beenvisioned that if a user repetitively and alternately uses one wordthen the other word, over time the frequency objects 104 associated withsuch words will increase well beyond the aforementioned maximum absolutefrequency value for a frequency object 104. Accordingly, if it isdetermined that both the default word object 108 and the variant wordobject 108 in the learning function were obtained from the frequencylearning database 96, instead of storing the variant word object 108 inthe frequency learning database 96 and associating it with a frequencyobject 104 having a relatively increased frequency value, instead thelearning function stores the default word object 108 and associates itwith a revised frequency object 104 having a frequency value that isrelatively lower than that of the frequency object 104 that isassociated with the variant word object 108. Such a schemeadvantageously avoids excessive and unnecessary increases in frequencyvalue.

If it is determined, such as at 268, that the current input is amovement input, such as would be employed when a user is seeking to editan object, either a completed word or a prefix object within the currentsession, the caret 84 is moved, as at 272, to the desired location, andthe flag is set, as at 276. Processing then returns to where additionalinputs can be detected, as at 204.

In this regard, it is understood that various types of movement inputscan be detected from the input apparatus 8. For instance, a rotation ofthe thumbwheel 32, such as is indicated by the arrow 34 of FIG. 1, couldprovide a movement input, as could the actuation of the <NEXT> key 40,or other such input, potentially in combination with other devices inthe input apparatus 8. In the instance where such a movement input isdetected, such as in the circumstance of an editing input, the movementinput is additionally detected as a selection input. Accordingly, and asis the case with a selection input such as is detected at 252, theselected variant is effectively locked with respect to the defaultportion 76 of the display output 64. Any default portion 76 during thesame session will necessarily include the previously selected variant.

In the context of editing, however, the particular displayed object thatis being edited is effectively locked except as to the character that isbeing edited. In this regard, therefore, the other characters of theobject being edited, i.e., the characters that are not being edited, aremaintained and are employed as a context for identifying additional wordobjects 108 and the like that correspond with the object being edited.Were this not the case, a user seeking to edit a letter in the middle ofa word otherwise likely would see as a new output 64 numerous objectsthat bear little or no resemblance to the characters of the object beingedited since, in the absence of maintaining such context, an entirelynew set of prefix objects including all of the permutations of thecharacters of the various keystrokes of the object being edited wouldhave been generated. New word objects 108 would have been identified ascorresponding with the new prefix objects, all of which couldsignificantly change the display output 64 merely upon the editing of asingle character. By maintaining the other characters currently in theobject being edited, and employing such other characters as contextinformation, the user can much more easily edit a word that is depictedon the display 60.

In the present exemplary embodiment of the handheld electronic device 4,if it is determined, as at 252, that the input is not a selection input,and it is determined, as at 260, that the input is not a delimiterinput, and it is further determined, as at 268, that the input is not amovement input, in the current exemplary embodiment of the handheldelectronic device 4 the only remaining operational input generally is adetection of the <DELETE> key 86 of the keys 28 of the keypad 24. Upondetection of the <DELETE> key 86, the final character of the defaultoutput is deleted, as at 280. At this point, the processing generallywaits until another input is detected, as at 284. It is then determined,as at 288, whether the new input detected at 284 is the same as the mostrecent input that was related to the final character that had just beendeleted at 280. If so, the default portion 76 is the same as theprevious default output, except that the last character is the oppositecharacter 48 of the key actuation that generated the last character.Processing then continues to 292 where learning data, i.e., the wordobject 108 and the associate frequency object 104 associated with theprevious default portion 76, as well as the word object 108 and theassociate frequency object 104 associated with the new default portion76, are stored in the temporary learning data register and the flag isset. Such a key sequence, i.e., an input, the <DELETE> key 86, and thesame input as before, is an alternation input. Such an alternation inputreplaces the default final character with an opposite final character ofthe key 28 which generated the final character 48 of the default portion76. The alternation input is treated as a selection input for purposesof locking the default portion 76 for the current session, and alsotriggers the flag which will initiate the learning function upondetection of a delimiter input at 260.

If it turns out, however, that the system detects at 288 that the newinput detected at 284 is different than the input immediately prior todetection of the <DELETE> key 86, processing continues at 212 where theinput is determined to be either an operational input or an input of akey 28 having one or more characters 48, and processing continuesthereafter.

It is also noted that when the main process reaches the output stage at248, an additional process is initiated which determines whether thevariant component 72 of the display output 64 should be initiated.Processing of the additional function is initiated from 248 at element504 of FIG. 6. Initially, the method at 508 outputs the text component68 of the display output 64 to the display 60. Further processingdetermines whether or not the variant component 72 should be displayed.

Specifically, it is determined, as at 512, whether the variant component72 has already been displayed during the current session. If the variantcomponent 72 has already been displayed, processing continues at 516where the new variant component 72 resulting from the currentdisambiguation cycle within the current session is displayed. Processingthen returns to a termination point at 520, after which processingreturns to the main process at 204. If, however, it is determined at 512that the variant component 72 has not yet been displayed during thecurrent session, processing continues, as at 524, to determine whetherthe elapsed time between the current input and the immediately previousinput is longer than a predetermined duration. If it is longer, thenprocessing continues at 516 where the variant component 72 is displayedand processing returns, through 520, to the main process, as at 204.However, if it is determined at 524 that the elapsed time between thecurrent input and the immediately previous input is less than thepredetermined duration, the variant component 72 is not displayed, andprocessing returns to the termination point at 520, after whichprocessing returns to the main process, as at 204.

Advantageously, therefore, if a user is entering keystrokes relativelyquickly, the variant component 72 will not be output to the display 60,where it otherwise would likely create a visual distraction to a userseeking to enter keystrokes quickly. If at any time during a givensession the variant component 72 is output to the display 60, such as ifthe time between successive inputs exceeds the predetermined duration,the variant component 72 will continue to be displayed throughout thatsession. However, upon the initiation of a new session, the variantcomponent 72 will be withheld from the display 60 if the userconsistently is entering keystrokes relatively quickly.

As mentioned above, in certain circumstances certain data sources 99 canbe searched prior to other data sources 99 if the input field isdetermined, as at 222, to be special. For instance, if the input fieldis to have a particular type of data input therein, and this particulartype of data can be identified and obtained, the disambiguated resultswill be of a greater degree of relevance to the field and have a higherdegree of correspondence with the intent of the user. For instance, aphysician's prescription pad, typically, includes blank spaces intowhich are inserted, for instance, a patient's name, a drug name, andinstructions for administering the drug. The physician's prescriptionpad potentially could be automated as an application on the handheldelectronic device 4. During entry of the patient's name, the data source99 that would most desirably be searched first would be, for instance, adata source 99 listing the names and, for instance, the contactinformation for the doctor's patients. Similarly, during entry of thedrug name, the data source 99 that would most desirably be searchedfirst would be the data source 99 listing, for instance, names of drugs.By searching these special data sources first, the relevance of theproposed disambiguated results is higher since the results are morelikely to be what is intended by the user. If the method obtains aninsufficient quantity of results in such a fashion, however, additionalresults can be obtained in the usual fashion from the other data sources99.

As can be seen in FIG. 6A, after processing is transferred to 604 fromthe main process, the method searches, as at 608, for word objects 108and frequency objects 104 in whatever data source 99 is determined tocorrespond with or have some relevance to the special input field. Theinput field typically will inform the operating system of the handheldelectronic device 4 that it, typically, receives a particular type ofinput, and the operating system will determine which data source 99 willbe searched first in seeking disambiguation results.

The disambiguation results obtained from the special, i.e.,predetermined, data source 99 are then filtered, as at 612, to eliminateduplicate results, and the quantity of remaining results are thencounted, as at 616, to determine whether the quantity is less than apredetermined number. If the answer to this inquiry is “no”, meaningthat a sufficient quantity of results were obtained from the particulardata source 99, processing is transferred, as at 620, to the mainprocess at 236.

On the other hand, if it is determined at 616 that insufficientdisambiguation results were obtained from the predetermined data source99, additional results typically will desirably be obtained. Forinstance, in such a circumstance processing continues, as at 624, toprocessing at which the prefix results are arranged in order ofdecreasing frequency value into a special output set. A special flag isset, as at 628, that indicates to the method that the additionaldisambiguation results that are about to be obtained from the other datasources 99 of the handheld electronic device 4 are to appended to theend of the special output set. Processing is transferred, as at 630,back to the main process at 224, after which additional disambiguationresults will be sought from the other data sources 99 on the handheldelectronic device 4. With the special flag being set, as at 628, theresults that were obtained from the predetermined data source 99 are tobe listed ahead of the additional results obtained from the remainingdata sources 99, even if the additional results are associated withrelatively higher frequency values than some of the results from thepredetermined data source 99. The method could, however, be applied indifferent fashions without departing from the concept.

An exemplary input sequence is depicted in FIGS. 1 and 7-11. In thisexample, the user is attempting to enter the word “APPLOADER”, and thisword presently is not stored in the memory 20. In FIG. 1 the user hasalready typed the “AS” key 28. Since the data tables in the memory 20are organized according to two-letter prefixes, the contents of thedisplay output 64 upon the first keystroke are obtained from the N-gramobjects 112 within the memory 20. The first keystroke “AS” correspondswith a first N-gram object 112 “S” and an associated frequency object104, as well as another N-gram object 112 “A” and an associatedfrequency object 104. While the frequency object 104 associated with “S”has a frequency value greater than that of the frequency object 104associated with “A”, it is noted that “A” is itself a complete word. Aprefix object that matches a complete word is preferred over prefixobjects that do not match complete words, regardless of the frequencyvalues associated with the word objects corresponding with each of theprefix objects. Accordingly, a complete word is always provided as thedefault portion 76. As such, in FIG. 1, the default portion 76 of theoutput 64 is “A”.

In FIG. 7, the user has additionally entered the “OP” key 28. Thevariants are depicted in FIG. 7. Since the prefix object “SO” is also aword, it is provided as the default portion 76. In FIG. 8, the user hasagain entered the “OP” key 28 and has also entered the “L” key 28. It isnoted that the exemplary “L” key 28 depicted herein includes only thesingle character 48 “L”.

It is assumed in the instant example that no operational inputs havethus far been detected. The default portion 76 is “APPL”, such as wouldcorrespond with the word “APPLE”. The prefix “APPL” is depicted both inthe text component 68, as well as in the default portion 76 of thevariant component 72. Variant prefix objects in the variant portion 80include “APOL”, such as would correspond with the word “APOLOGIZE”, andthe prefix “SPOL”, such as would correspond with the word “SPOLIATION”.

It is particularly noted that the additional variants “AOOL”, “AOPL”,“SOPL”, and “SOOL” are also depicted as variant portions 80 in thevariant component 72. Since no word object 108 corresponds with theseprefix objects, the prefix objects are considered to be orphan prefixobjects for which a corresponding word object 108 was not identified. Inthis regard, it may be desirable for the variant component 72 to includea specific quantity of entries, and in the case of the instant exemplaryembodiment the quantity is seven entries. Upon obtaining the result at224, if the quantity of prefix objects in the result is fewer than thepredetermined quantity, the disambiguation function will seek to provideadditional outputs until the predetermined number of outputs areprovided. In the absence of artificial variants having been created, theadditional variant entries are provided by orphan prefix objects. It isnoted, however, that if artificial variants had been generated, theylikely would have occupied a place of preference in favor of such orphanprefix objects, and possibly also in favor of the prefix objects of theresult.

It is further noted that such orphan prefix objects may actually beoffspring orphan prefix objects from suspended parent orphan prefixobjects and/or artificial variants. Such offspring orphan prefix objectscan be again output depending upon frequency ranking as explained below,or as otherwise ranked.

The orphan prefix objects are ranked in order of descending frequencywith the use of the N-gram objects 112 and the associated frequencyobjects 104. Since the orphan prefix objects do not have a correspondingword object 108 with an associated frequency object 104, the frequencyobjects 104 associated with the various N-gram objects 112 must beemployed as a fallback.

Using the N-gram objects 112, the disambiguation function first seeks todetermine if any N-gram object 112 having, for instance, threecharacters is a match for, for instance, final three characters of anyorphan prefix object. The example of three characters is given since theexemplary embodiment of the handheld electronic device 4 includes N-gramobjects 112 that are an exemplary maximum of the three characters inlength, but it is understood that if the memory 20 included N-gramobjects 112 four characters in length or longer, the disambiguationfunction typically would first seek to determine whether an N-gramobject 112 having the greatest length in the memory 20 matches the samequantity of characters at the end of an orphan prefix object.

If only one prefix object corresponds in such a fashion to a threecharacter N-gram object 112, such orphan prefix object is listed firstamong the various orphan prefix objects in the variant portion 80. Ifadditional orphan prefix objects are matched to N-gram objects 112having three characters, then the frequency objects 104 associated withsuch identified N-gram objects 112 are analyzed, and the matched orphanprefix objects are ranked amongst themselves in order of decreasingfrequency.

If it is determined that a match cannot be obtained with an N-gramobject 112 having three characters, then two-character N-gram objects112 are employed. Since the memory 20 includes all permutations oftwo-character N-gram objects 112, at last two characters of each orphanprefix object can be matched to a corresponding two-character N-gramobject 112. After such matches are achieved, the frequency objects 104associated with such identified N-gram objects 112 are analyzed, and theorphan prefix objects are ranked amongst themselves in descending orderof frequency value of the frequency objects 104 that were associatedwith the identified N-gram objects 112. It is further noted thatartificial variants can similarly be rank ordered amongst themselvesusing the N-gram objects 112 and the associated frequency objects 104.

In FIG. 9 the user has additionally entered the “OP” key 28. In thiscircumstance, and as can be seen in FIG. 9, the default portion 76 ofthe display output 64 has become the prefix object “APOLO” such as wouldcorrespond with the word “APOLOGIZE”, whereas immediately prior to thecurrent input the default portion 76 of the display output 64 of FIG. 8was “APPL” such as would correspond with the word “APPLE.” Again,assuming that no operational inputs had been detected, the defaultprefix object in FIG. 9 does not correspond with the previous defaultprefix object of FIG. 8. As such, the first artificial variant “APOLP”is generated and in the current example is given a preferred position.The aforementioned artificial variant “APOLP” is generated by deletingthe final character of the default prefix object “APOLO” and bysupplying in its place an opposite character 48 of the key 28 whichgenerated the final character of the default portion 76 of the displayoutput 64, which in the current example of FIG. 9 is “P”, so that theaforementioned artificial variants is “APOLP”.

Furthermore, since the previous default output “APPL” corresponded witha word object 108, such as the word object 108 corresponding with theword “APPLE”, and since with the addition of the current input theprevious default output “APPL” no longer corresponds with a word object108, two additional artificial variants are generated. One artificialvariant is “APPLP” and the other artificial variant is “APPLO”, andthese correspond with the previous default output “APPL” plus thecharacters 48 of the key 28 that was actuated to generate the currentinput. These artificial variants are similarly output as part of thevariant portion 80 of the display output 64.

As can be seen in FIG. 9, the default portion 76 of the display output64 “APOLO” no longer seems to match what would be needed as a prefix for“APPLOADER”, and the user likely anticipates that the desired word“APPLOADER” is not already stored in the memory 20. As such, the userprovides a selection input, such as by scrolling with the thumbwheel 32,or by actuating the <NEXT> key 40, until the variant string “APPLO” ishighlighted. The user then continues typing and enters the “AS” key.

The display output 64 of such action is depicted in FIG. 10. Here, thestring “APPLOA” is the default portion 76 of the display output 64.Since the variant string “APPLO” became the default portion 76 of thedisplay output 64 (not expressly depicted herein) as a result of theselection input as to the variant string “APPLO”, and since the variantstring “APPLO” does not correspond with a word object 108, the characterstrings “APPLOA” and “APPLOS” were created as artificial variants.Additionally, since the previous default of FIG. 9, “APOLO” previouslyhad corresponded with a word object 108, but now is no longer incorrespondence with the default portion 76 of the display output 64 ofFIG. 10, the additional artificial variants of “APOLOA” and “APOLOS”were also generated. Such artificial variants are given a preferredposition in favor of the three displayed orphan prefix objects.

Since the current input sequence in the example no longer correspondswith any word object 108, the portions of the method related toattempting to find corresponding word objects 108 are not executed withfurther inputs for the current session. That is, since no word object108 corresponds with the current input sequence, further inputs willlikewise not correspond with any word object 108. Avoiding the search ofthe memory 20 for such nonexistent word objects 108 saves time andavoids wasted processing effort.

As the user continues to type, the user ultimately will successfullyenter the word “APPLOADER” and will enter a delimiter input. Upondetection of the delimiter input after the entry of “APPLOADER”, thelearning function is initiated. Since the word “APPLOADER” does notcorrespond with a word object 108 in the memory 20, a new word object108 corresponding with “APPLOADER” is generated and is stored in the newwords database 92, along with a corresponding new frequency object 104which is given an absolute frequency in the upper, say, one-third orone-fourth of the possible frequency range. In this regard, it is notedthat the new words database 92 and the frequency learning database 96are generally organized in two-character prefix data tables similar tothose found in the generic word list 88. As such, the new frequencyobject 104 is initially assigned an absolute frequency value, but uponstorage the absolute frequency value, if it is not the maximum valuewithin that data table, will be changed to include a normalizedfrequency value percentage normalized to whatever is the maximumfrequency value within that data table.

As a subsequent example, in FIG. 11 the user is trying to enter the word“APOLOGIZE”. The user has entered the key sequence “AS” “OP” “OP” “L”“OP”. Since “APPLOADER” has now been added as a word object 108 to thenew words database 92 and has been associated with frequency object 104having a relatively high frequency value, the prefix object “APPLO”which corresponds with “APPLOADER” has been displayed as the defaultportion 76 of the display output 64 in favor of the variant prefixobject “APOLO”, which corresponds with the desired word “APOLOGIZE.”Since the word “APOLOGIZE” corresponds with a word object 108 that isstored at least in the generic word list 88, the user can simplycontinue to enter keystrokes corresponding with the additional letters“GIZE”, which would be the letters in the word “APOLOGIZE” following theprefix object “APOLO”, in order to obtain the word “APOLOGIZE”.Alternatively, the user may, upon seeing the display output 64 depictedin FIG. 11, enter a selection input to affirmatively select the variantprefix object “APOLO”. In such a circumstance, the learning functionwill be triggered upon detection of a delimiter symbol, and the wordobject 108 that had corresponded with the character string “APOLO” atthe time the selection input was made will be stored in the frequencylearning database 96 and will be associated with a revised frequencyobject 104 having a relatively higher frequency value that is similarlystored in the frequency learning database 96.

An additional feature of the handheld electronic device 4 is depictedgenerally in FIG. 12. In some circumstances, it is desirable that thedisambiguation function be disabled. For instance, when it is desired toenter a password, disambiguation typically is relatively more cumbersomethan during ordinary text entry. As such, when the system focus is onthe component corresponding with the password field, the componentindicates to the API that special processing is requested, and the APIdisables the disambiguation function and instead enables, for instance,a multi-tap input interpretation system. Alternatively, other inputinterpretation systems could include a chording system or apress-and-hold/press-and-release interpretation system. As such, whilean input entered with the disambiguation function active is an ambiguousinput, by enabling the alternative interpretation system, such as theexemplary multi-tap system, each input can be largely unambiguous.

As can be understood from FIG. 12, each unambiguous input is displayedfor a very short period of time within the password field 120, and isthen replaced with another output, such as the asterisk. The character“R” is shown displayed, it being understood that such display is onlyfor a very short period of time.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 7-11, the display output 64 includes thedisplayed graphic 46 near the lower end of the variant component 72, andthat the displayed graphic 46 is highly similar to the graphic 42 of the<NEXT> key 40. Such a depiction provides an indication to the user whichof the keys 28 of the keypad 24 can be actuated to select a variantoutput. The depiction of the displayed graphic 46 provides anassociation between the display output 64 and the <NEXT> key 40 in theuser's mind. Additionally, if the user employs the <NEXT> key 40 toprovide a selection input, the user will be able to actuate the <NEXT>key 40 without moving the user's hands away from the position the handswere in with respect to the housing 6 during text entry, which reducesunnecessary hand motions, such as would be required if a user needed tomove a hand to actuate the thumbwheel 32. This saves time and effort.

It is also noted that the system can detect the existence of certainpredefined symbols as being delimiter signals if no word object 108corresponds with the text entry that includes the symbol. For instance,if the user desired to enter the input “one-off”, the user might beginby entering the key sequence “OP” “BN” “ER” “ZX” “OP”, with the “ZX”actuation being intended to refer to the hyphen symbol disposed thereon.Alternatively, instead of typing the “ZX” key the user might actuate an<ALT> entry to unambiguously indicate the hyphen.

Assuming that the memory 20 does not already include a word object 108of “one-off”, the disambiguation function will detect the hyphen asbeing a delimiter input. As such, the key entries preceding thedelimiter input will be delimited from the key entries subsequent to thedelimiter input. As such, the desired input will be searched as twoseparate words, i.e., “ONE” and “OFF”, with the hyphen therebetween.This facilitates processing by more narrowly identifying what is desiredto be searched.

The memory 20 may also store a routine 22 for implementing adisambiguated text message review function. The disambiguated textmessage review function provides an improved user notification andediting capability for messages composed on the handheld electronicdevice 4. Although described herein as a separate routine, thedisambiguated text message review function may be implemented as a partof and/or in conjunction with another routine, for example, thedisambiguation function.

As discussed above, a user may develop a habit of ignoring, whilecomposing a message, the displayed lists of suggested words generated bythe disambiguation software. Unfortunately, the default portion 76produced by the disambiguation software and inserted into the textcomponent 68 at the termination of a session may not be the languageobject (e.g., word) intended by the user. The disambiguated text messagereview function advantageously notifies the user that “problem words”are within the text component 68 of a composed message and provides theuser with an improved means of editing the composed message.

“Problem words” (and variations thereof) refer broadly to two or morelanguage objects 108, which are complete words and have characterstrings of the same length, that are generated by the disambiguationsoftware as a solution to a single delimited ambiguous input. Putanother way, a “problem word” refers broadly to a complete word that isgenerated by the disambiguation software in response to a delimitedambiguous input for which there exists at least one other complete wordthat is generated by the disambiguation software in response to the samedelimited ambiguous input.

When the disambiguation software is used with the handheld electronicdevice 4 as illustrated in FIG. 1 certain problem words often arise. Forexample, the word “ARE” is typed on keypad 24 by actuating, in sequence,the “AS” key once, the “ER” key twice, and a delimiter. However, theword “SEE” is also typed on keypad 24 by actuating, in sequence, the“AS” key once, the “ER” key twice, and a delimiter. For this reason,“ARE” and “SEE” are considered “problem words”. A user attempting totype the word “ARE” may actuate, in sequence, the “AS” key once, the“ER” key twice, and a delimiter as discussed above, but instead ofproducing “ARE” as the display output 64, the disambiguation softwaremay produce the word “SEE”. When a problem word is entered by a user,such as in the situation above, the disambiguated text message reviewfunction detects, and indicates to the user, that the delimitedambiguous input corresponds to a problem word. The disambiguated textmessage review function may notify the user with an indication of anytype, for example, changing the text style of the problem word, soundingan audible warning, displaying a visual warning prompt, causing thehandheld electronic device 4 to vibrate, etc.

Additionally when the disambiguated text message review function detectsthat a problem word has been entered, the disambiguated text messagereview function stores the variant component 72 (for example, as seen inFIG. 14) generated by the disambiguation software for the detectedproblem word. The disambiguated text message review function associatesthis variant component 72 (for example, as seen in FIG. 14) with thisdetected problem word.

Alternatively, when the disambiguated text message review functiondetects that a problem word has been entered, the disambiguated textmessage review function stores the keystroke sequence of the detectedproblem word. The disambiguated text message review function associatesthis keystroke sequence with the detected problem word.

Other common problem words inherent to the handheld electronic device 4illustrated in FIG. 1 may include: have, gave; about, snout; yet, try;hate, gate; there, three; test, tray; dear, fear; hit, guy; info, undo;is, us; yes, tea; sick, suck; busy, bust; but, bit, buy, nut, nit. Itshould be apparent to one skilled in the art that different keyboardarrangements (e.g., QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY, etc.) may be associated withdifferent problem words, however, the disambiguated text message reviewfunction is operable regardless of the specific layout of the keypad 24.

In one embodiment, words are determined to be problem words byadditionally examining the difference between the absolute frequencyvalues of the frequency objects 104 associated with each of the two ormore language objects 100. This difference, or “frequency delta”, iscompared to a predetermined threshold. If the frequency delta is lessthan the predetermined threshold, the words are considered to be problemwords. For example, assume that the associated frequency object 104 forthe word “ARE” has an absolute frequency value of 65,000 and that theassociated frequency object 104 for the word “SEE” has an absolutefrequency value of 63,500. Further assume that the predeterminedthreshold is set at 2,000. In the instant example, the frequency deltais 1,500 (i.e., 65,000-63,500) which is less than the predeterminedthreshold of 2,000. Accordingly, “ARE” and “SEE” are considered to beproblem words.

FIGS. 13-17 illustrate exemplary outputs for the handheld electronicdevice 4 on which the disambiguated text message review function isimplemented. The disambiguated text message review function detects thata delimited ambiguous input has been input on the handheld electronicdevice and determines that one or more of the solutions for thedelimited ambiguous input are problem words. The disambiguated textmessage review function outputs the word object 108 associated with afrequency object 104 having a higher frequency value and outputs anindication that the word object 108 is a problem word.

In the current example, the user attempts to compose the message “I seethat you have been a bit busy.” The disambiguation text message reviewfunction detects that the user has entered several delimited ambiguousinputs, several of which correspond to problem words (i.e., are, see;have, gave; but, bit; busy, bust). The disambiguation text messagereview function outputs the word objects 108 associated with a frequencyobjects 104 having a higher frequency value, for example, producing thetext component 68 “I are that you have been a but busy” as shown in FIG.13. The disambiguated text message review function also outputs anindication to the user that several of the word objects 108 are problemwords. More specifically as shown in FIG. 13, the text style of theproblem words, “are”, “have”, “but”, and “busy” are displayed in boldtype (whereas the remaining words are displayed in the default textstyle).

The specific text style used to distinguish problem words from otherwords in a message may be varied while remaining within the scope of thepresent concept. For example, the use of color, font type, font style,font size, shading, and font effects, among other, is contemplated.Furthermore, other indication types (e.g., sounding an audible warning,displaying a visual warning prompt, causing the handheld electronicdevice 4 to vibrate, etc.) may be utilized in place of or in conjunctionwith a specific text style.

FIG. 14 illustrates operation of the disambiguated text message reviewfunction after a user has entered a message edit mode. Morespecifically, the user highlights and/or selects the word “ARE” in thetext component 68. The word may be highlighted by, among others,positioning a cursor at the desired word and selected by, among others,actuating the thumbwheel 32, pressing the space key, pressing the returnkey, and/or dwelling at the word for a certain amount of time. Whenpositioning the cursor at the desired word using the thumbwheel 32, theuser, preferably, scrolls from word to word thereby allowing the user toreview the entire message during the review. Alternately, during thedisambiguated text message review function, rotation of the thumbwheel32 may cause the cursor to jump from one highlighted word to the nexthighlighted word and skipping the text therebetween. When a word hasbeen selected, the disambiguated text message review function thenretrieves and displays the variant component 72 associated with theselected word which was previously stored (as discussed above).Alternatively, the disambiguated text message review function retrievesthe keystroke sequence associated with the selected word (as discussedabove) and the disambiguation software generates the variant component72 in response to this associated keystroke sequence. The variantcomponent 72 for the selected word, as produced by the disambiguationsoftware, is then displayed. As previously discussed, the variantcomponent 72 includes a default portion 76, a variant portion 80, and adisplayed graphic 46. The exemplary variant portion 80 includes the word“SEE” (i.e., another problem word), as well as a number of othervariants, it being noted that the variant portion 80 in editing modecould be confined to include only the other problem word(s) withoutadditional variants.

In the current example, the user replaces the word “ARE” in the textcomponent 68 by scrolling to and selecting the word “SEE” from thevariant portion 80. After the replacement is made, the text style of theproblem word (i.e., “SEE”) is returned to the default text style (e.g.,is no longer displayed in bold type). The disambiguated text messagereview function may also update the frequency learning database (e.g.,as discussed in conjunction with FIGS. 5 a-5 b) in response to the userreplacing selected word. For example, the problem word “SEE” may begiven a higher frequency value than the problem word “ARE”. As a result,the next time the keystroke sequence “AS”, “ER” and “ER”, followed by adelimiter is detected, the word “SEE” will be provided in the textcomponent 68 and as the default portion 76 and the word “ARE” will beprovided in the variant portion 80.

Some users may desire to have a “clean” message, that is, a message freefrom highlighting, prior to sending the message. As illustrated in FIG.15, the user next highlights and/or selects (as discussed above) theword “HAVE” in the text component 68. The variant component 72 for theselected word, as produced by the disambiguation software, is thendisplayed. In the current example, the user retains the word “HAVE” inthe text component 68 by selecting the default portion 76. The textstyle of the problem word (i.e., “HAVE”) is returned to the default textstyle (e.g., is no longer displayed in bold type). It is noted that, anyformatting relating to the disambiguated text message review function,e.g., bold type as discussed in this paragraph, is not included with themessage when the message is sent.

As illustrated in FIG. 16, the user next highlights and selects (asdiscussed above) the word “BUT” in the text component 68. The variantcomponent 72 for the selected word, as produced by the disambiguationsoftware, is then displayed. In the current example, the user replacesthe word “BUT” in the text component 68 by selecting the word “BIT” fromthe variant portion 80. After the replacement is made, the text style ofthe problem word (i.e., “BIT”) is returned to the default text style(e.g., is no longer displayed in bold type).

As illustrated in FIG. 17, the user next highlights and/or selects (asdiscussed above) the word “BUSY” in the text component 68. The variantcomponent 72 for the selected word, as produced by the disambiguationsoftware, is then displayed. In the current example, the user retainsthe word “BUSY” in the text component 68 by selecting the defaultportion 76. The text style of the problem word (i.e., “BUSY”) isreturned to the default text style (e.g., is no longer displayed in boldtype).

FIG. 18 illustrates the message (“I see that you have been a bit busy.”)obtained after the user has finished editing using the disambiguatedtext message review function. Because each problem word has beenaddressed by the user (as discussed above), each word in the finalmessage is in the default text style. Alternatively, because the words“HAVE” and “BUSY” had been the words desired by the user, the user couldsimply have not selected such words during editing. For example, theuser could have scrolled past these words without dwelling at the words.In such a circumstance, the variant component 72 shown in FIGS. 15 and17 would not have been output and the words “HAVE” and “BUSY” would haveremained displayed in bold type.

The disambiguated text message review function may also providedifferent indication types to notify the user of the problem word'sprobability of being incorrect. The probability may be determined, forexample, using the frequency delta between problem words. In oneembodiment, predetermined thresholds (e.g., 1000, 2000, 3000, etc.)define a plurality of ranges (e.g., 0 to 1000; 1001 to 2000; 2001 to3000, etc.), each range representing a different probability and eachbeing associated with, for example, a specific text style. Thus, thedisambiguated text message review function allows a problem word to bedisplayed on display 60 in one text style (e.g., displayed in the colorred) if the frequency delta between that problem word and anotherproblem word corresponding to the same delimited ambiguous input isassociated with a first range (e.g., 0-1000) and allows another problemword to be displayed in a different text style (e.g., displayed in thecolor blue) if the frequency delta between that problem word and anotherproblem word corresponding to the same delimited ambiguous input is inanother range (e.g., 2001 to 3000). Thus, the disambiguated text messagereview function easily allows the user to scan the completed message anddetermine which problem words are more likely to be incorrect.

As discussed above, it was assumed that the frequency delta between thewords “ARE” and “SEE” was 1500. Assume that the frequency delta betweenthe words “HAVE” and “GAVE” is 2500. Further assume that predeterminedthresholds 1000, 2000, and 3000 define a plurality of ranges 0 to 1000,1001 to 2000, and 2001 to 3000, respectively, each range representing adifferent probability and each being associated with a specific textstyle. The frequency delta between with the word “ARE” and the word“SEE” falls within the 1001 to 2000 range. Therefore, the word “ARE” isdisplayed in the text style associated with that range (e.g., displayedin the color red). The frequency delta between the word “HAVE” and theword “GAVE” falls with the 2001 to 3000 range. Therefore, the word“HAVE” is displayed in the text style associated with that range (e.g.,displayed in the color blue).

The number of thresholds and ranges established, and the number andtypes of text styles and/or indication types used, among others, may bevaried while remaining within the scope of the present concept.Additionally, the text style of one or more words within the variantportion 80 may also be changed. For example, the problem word “BUT” mayhave a variant portion 80 containing the other problem words “BIT”,“BUY”, “NUT”, and “NIT”. Assume that the frequency delta between “BUT”and “BIT” is 500, the frequency delta between “BUT” and “BUY” is 1700,the frequency delta between “BUT” and “NUT” is 6500, and the frequencydelta between “BUT” and “NIT” is 10000. Accordingly, in the variantportion 80, the word “BIT” may be displayed in the color red, the word“BUY” in the color orange, the word “NUT” in the color blue, and theword “NIT” in the default color, thus indicating the matching word mostlikely to be of interest to the user.

In the examples discussed above, delimited input represented multiplelanguage objects 100 that were recognized by the disambiguation software(e.g., multiple words within a dictionary such as “ARE” and “SEE”).However, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art that adelimited input may represent a language object 100 that is notrecognized by the disambiguation software (e.g., a word that is notwithin a dictionary such as a person's last name). Again, should theuser continue typing, the disambiguation software may automaticallyplace a language object 100 within the text component 68 that was notintended by the user. In the current embodiment, the disambiguated textmessage review function provides a different text style for such asituation (e.g., displaying the word in italics), again allowing theuser to quickly scan the edit the composed message.

An additional method of editing may be used when a user makes an errorof omission while composing a message. For example, a user may wish totype the word “AREA.” This word, i.e. language object 100, is created bytyping sequentially on the keypad 24 the “AS” key 28, the “ER” key 28,the “ER” key 28, the “AS” key 28, followed by a delimiter, e.g., thespace key 28. However, if the user does not actuate the “AS” key 28 thesecond time, the disambiguation software may produce the word “ARE” inresponse to this sequence of inputs. In the embodiment set forth above,when the user reviews the message and highlights the word “ARE,” thedisambiguated text message review function then retrieves and displaysthe variant component 72 associated with the selected word which waspreviously stored (as discussed above). The variant component 72 for theselected word, in this example “ARE”, produced by the disambiguationsoftware is then displayed. The variant component 72 would include thevariant portions 80 such as the word “SEE” as well as the variants“ARR,” “AER,” “SER,” and “SRR,” see FIG. 14. This displayed image is“cluttered” due to the number of variant components 72 corresponding tothe input. This embodiment provides an improvement by reducing thenumber of variant components 72 displayed and provides an edit option90.

FIG. 19 illustrates an alternative operation of the disambiguated textmessage review function after a user has entered a message edit mode. Inthis example, the user intended to type, “I've been to area fifty-one.”As set forth above, the user failed to actuate the “AS” key 28 thesecond time. As before, the disambiguated text message review functiondetects that a delimited ambiguous input has been input on the handheldelectronic device 4 and determines that one or more of the solutions forthe delimited ambiguous input are problem words. The disambiguated textmessage review function outputs the word object 108 associated with afrequency object 104 having a higher frequency value and outputs anindication that the word object 108 is a problem word. That is, the word“ARE” is highlighted or otherwise visually accentuated as describedabove.

The user then selects the word “ARE” in the text component 68. The wordmay be selected by, among others, positioning a cursor at the desiredword, or language object 100, and selected by, among others, actuatingthe thumbwheel 32, pressing the space key 28, pressing the return key28, and/or dwelling at the word for a certain amount of time. Thedisambiguated text message review function then retrieves and displays ashort list 73 of the variant portions 80 that are complete words as wellas the edit option 90. That is, the short list 73 is an output of aplurality of language objects 100 which are complete word solutions ofthe first delimited ambiguous input. Given that the words “ARE” and“SEE” share a common input, it can be assumed that the user intended toinput one of these complete words. Thus, both complete words areprovided on the short list 73. However, in this example, the useractually made a mistake and the desired word “AREA” is not on the shortlist 73. Thus, when the user sees that the desired word is not on theshort list 73, that is, displayed as a variant portion 80, the user mayselect the edit option 90. When the edit option 90 is selected, thevariant component 72, including all variant portions 80 associated withthe selected word, which was previously stored (as discussed above) isretrieved and displayed. Alternatively, the disambiguated text messagereview function retrieves the keystroke sequence associated with theselected word (as discussed above) and the disambiguation softwaregenerates the variant component 72 in response to this associatedkeystroke sequence. The variant component 72 for the selected word, asproduced by the disambiguation software, is then displayed. Aspreviously discussed, the variant component 72 includes a defaultportion 76, a variant portion 80, and a displayed graphic 46. In thisexample and as shown, the word “ARE” is the default portion 76. As thedefault portion 76 is the word “ARE,” the user needs only to actuate the“AS” key 28 and the routine 22 returns to step 204 wherein an input isdetected and added to the text component 68. Further, given that “AREA”is, typically, a more common word than “ARES,” the displayed resultwould be “AREA.” When the user enters a delimiter, the word “AREA” isnow a second delimited ambiguous input and the user may continue to editthe message.

Another alternative embodiment allows for the possibility of a useractuating an incorrect key 28 while composing a message. For example, auser may wish to type the sentence “I like art class.” The word “ART” iscreated by typing sequentially on the keypad 24 the “AS” key 28, the“ER” key 28 and the “TY” key 28, followed by a delimiter, e.g., thespace key 28. However, as the “ER” key 28 and the “TY” key 28 aredisposed immediately adjacent to each other, there is a chance the usercould accidentally actuate the ER” key 28 twice and not actuate the “TY”key 28 at all. As set forth above, the disambiguation software mayproduce the word “ARE” in response to this sequence of inputs. Thedisambiguated text message review function then retrieves and displays ashort list 73 of the variant portions 80 that are complete words as wellas the edit option 90. Again, given that the words “ARE” and “SEE” sharea common input, it can be assumed that the user intended to input one ofthese complete words. Thus, both complete words are provided on theshort list 73. At this point the user may realize the mistake andunderstand that the “TY” has not been actuated and, therefore, will notappear on the short list 73 or as a variant component 72. Thus, the usermay reselect the word “ARE” and, as this is identical to the originalword, the routine 22 returns to step 204 wherein an input is detectedand the program enters a character edit mode and the caret 84 is placedat, or adjacent to, the selected word, preferably at the end of theword. As set forth above, the user may utilize the <DELETE> key 86 todelete the text entry of the letter “E” and actuate the “TY” key 28. Ifthe incorrect letter is not located at the end of the word, or adjacentto the caret 84, the user may reposition the caret 84 as needed. As setforth above, when a word is being edited, the particular displayedobject that is being edited is effectively locked except as to thecharacter that is being edited. In this regard, therefore, the othercharacters of the object being edited, i.e., the characters that are notbeing edited, are maintained and are employed as a context foridentifying additional word objects 108 and the like that correspondwith the object being edited.

If; however, the user does not recognize the mistake when the short list73 is displayed, the user may select the edit option 90. When the editoption 90 is selected, the routine 22 retrieves and displays the variantcomponent 72, including all variant portions 80 associated with theselected word, which was previously stored (as discussed above).Alternatively, the disambiguated text message review function retrievesthe keystroke sequence associated with the selected word (as discussedabove) and the disambiguation software generates the variant component72 in response to this associated keystroke sequence. The variantcomponent 72 for the selected word, as produced by the disambiguationsoftware, is then displayed. At this point, the user will again bepresented with a list of variant components 72 that begin with the word“ARE” and do not include the word “ART.” Thus, the user would select theword “ART” and follow the method detailed above.

Thus, the method of editing delimited ambiguous input on a handheldelectronic device 4 includes detecting a selection of a language object100 generated from a first delimited ambiguous input, outputting aplurality of language objects 100 which are complete word solutions ofsaid first delimited ambiguous input, as well as an edit option 90, anddetecting a selection of the edit option 90. Given that a user will,typically, provide additional input, the method further includesdetecting the input of a language object 100 that is a second delimitedambiguous input. That is, detecting a second delimited ambiguous inputincludes detecting a number of input member actuations, the input memberactuations altering the first delimited ambiguous input.

In a further alternative, the operation of the disambiguated textmessage review function after a user has entered a message edit modeincludes a delete option 91. That is, a user error may be compounded bythe disambiguation software so that the desired language object 100,i.e. word, must be retyped as opposed to simply replacing or adding alimited number of text components 68. For this example, it will beassumed that a user who wished to type the word “ART” has mistakenlytyped sequentially on the keypad 24 the “AS” key 28, the “ER” key 28 andthe “ER” key 28, followed by a delimiter, e.g., the space key 28. Inthis example, however, further assume that the word “SEE” had a higherfrequency value than the word “ARE” and, therefore, the word “SEE” wasselected as the default portion 76. As set forth above, when the userreviews the message and highlights the word “SEE,” the disambiguatedtext message review function then retrieves and displays the short list73 associated with the selected word which was previously stored (asdiscussed above). The short list 73 for the selected word, in thisexample “SEE”, produced by the disambiguation software is thendisplayed. In addition to the default portion 76 of “SEE,” the shortlist 73 would include the complete word “ARE.” However, as the “TY” key28 has not been actuated, the desired word “ART” would not be displayed.In this instance, the edit option 90 is not as useful as the entire wordwould have to be deleted using the <DELETE> key 86.

As shown in FIG. 20, when the user is using the text message reviewfunction and highlights and/or selects a word (as discussed above), inthis example the word “SEE,” the disambiguated text message reviewfunction retrieves and displays the short list 73 associated with theselected word which was previously stored (as discussed above) as wellas an edit option 90 and a delete option 91. Thus, when the user seesthat the desired word, in this example “ART,” is not displayed as avariant component 72, the user may select the delete option 91. When thedelete option 91 is selected, the routine 22 deletes the entire word andenters a character edit mode with the caret 84 placed at the location ofthe deleted word. At this point the routine 22 is again structured todetect input as at 204, set forth above, and the user would enter asecond delimited ambiguous input using the method detailed above. Thus,method of editing delimited ambiguous input on a handheld electronicdevice 4 includes detecting a selection of a language object 100generated from a first delimited ambiguous input, outputting a pluralityof language objects 100 which are complete word solutions of said firstdelimited ambiguous input, as well as an edit option 90, and detecting aselection of the edit option 90 and a delete option 91, and detecting aselection of the delete option 91.

An improved handheld electronic device 1004 in accordance with anotherembodiment of the disclosed and claimed concept is depicted generally inFIG. 21. As a general matter, the handheld electronic device 1004 issubstantially identical in configuration and function to the handheldelectronic device 4, except that the handheld electronic device 1004employs a multiple-axis input device instead of or in addition to thethumbwheel 32. In the depicted exemplary embodiment, the multiple-axisinput device is a track ball 1032 as will be described below. It isnoted, however, that multiple-axis input devices other than the trackball 1032 can be employed without departing from the present concept.For instance, other appropriate multiple-axis input devices couldinclude mechanical devices such as joysticks and the like and/ornon-mechanical devices such as touch pads, track pads and the likeand/or other devices which detect motion or input in other fashions,such as through the use of optical sensors or piezoelectric crystals.

The handheld electronic device 1004 includes a housing 1006 upon whichis disposed a processor unit that includes an input apparatus 1008, anoutput apparatus 1012, a processor 1016, a memory 1020, and a number ofroutines 1022. All of the operations that can be performed on or withthe handheld electronic device 4 can be performed on or with thehandheld electronic device 1004. As such, the features of the handheldelectronic device 4 that are common with the handheld electronic device1004, and this would comprise essentially all of the features of thehandheld electronic device 4, will generally not be repeated.

The output apparatus 1012 includes a display 1060 that provides visualoutput. The exemplary output in FIG. 21 is a plurality of icons 1062that are selectable by the user for the purpose of, for example,initiating the execution on the processor 1016 of a routine 1022 that isrepresented by an icon 1062.

The input apparatus 1008 can be said to comprise a keypad 1024 and thetrack ball 1032, all of which serve as input members. The keypad 1024and the track ball 1032 are advantageously disposed adjacent oneanother. The keypad 1024 comprises a plurality of keys 1028 that areactuatable to provide input to the processor 1016. Many of the keys 1028have assigned thereto a plurality of linguistic elements in theexemplary form of Latin letters. Other keys 1028 can have assignedthereto functions and/or other characters.

For instance, one of the keys 1028 is an <ESCAPE> key 1031 which, whenactuated, provides to the processor 1016 an input that undoes the actionwhich resulted from the immediately preceding input and/or moves theuser to a logically higher position within the logical menu tree managedby a graphical user interface (GUI) routine 1022. The function providedby the <ESCAPE> key 1031 can be used at any logical location within anyportion of the logical menu tree except, perhaps, at a home screen suchas is depicted in FIG. 21. The <ESCAPE> key 1031 is advantageouslydisposed adjacent the track ball 1032 thereby enabling, for example, anunintended or incorrect input from the track ball 1032 to be quicklyundone, i.e., reversed, by an actuation of the adjacent <ESCAPE> key1031.

Another of the keys 1028 is a <MENU> key 1033 which, when actuated,provides to the processor 1016 an input that causes the GUI 1022 togenerate and output on the display 1060 a menu that is appropriate tothe user's current logical location within the logical menu tree. Forinstance, FIG. 22 depicts an exemplary menu 1035A that would beappropriate if the user's current logical location within the logicalmenu tree was viewing an email within an email routine 1022. That is,the menu 1035A provides selectable options that would be appropriate fora user given that the user is, for example, viewing an email within anemail routine 1022. In a similar fashion, FIG. 23 depicts anotherexemplary menu 1035B that would be depicted if the user's currentlogical location within the logical menu tree was within a telephoneroutine 1022.

The track ball 1032 is disposed on the housing 1006 and is freelyrotatable in all directions with respect to the housing 1006. A rotationof the track ball 1032 a predetermined rotational distance with respectto the housing 1006 provides an input to the processor 1016, and suchinputs can be employed by the routines 1022, for example, asnavigational inputs, scrolling inputs, selection inputs, and otherinputs.

For instance, the track ball 1032 is rotatable about a horizontal axis1034A to provide vertical scrolling, navigational, selection, or otherinputs. Similarly, the track ball 1032 is rotatable about a verticalaxis 1034B to provide horizontal scrolling, navigational, selection, orother inputs. Since the track ball 1032 is freely rotatable with respectto the housing 1006, the track ball 1032 is additionally rotatable aboutany other axis (not expressly depicted herein) that lies within theplane of the page of FIG. 21 or that extends out of the plane of thepage of FIG. 21.

The track ball 1032 can be said to be a multiple-axis input devicebecause it provides scrolling, navigational, selection, and other inputsin a plurality of directions or with respect to a plurality of axes,such as providing inputs in both the vertical and the horizontaldirections. It is reiterated that the track ball 1032 is merely one ofmany multiple-axis input devices that could be employed on the handheldelectronic device 1004. As such, mechanical alternatives to the trackball 1032, such as a joystick, might have a limited rotation withrespect to the housing 1006, and non-mechanical alternatives might beimmovable with respect to the housing 1006, yet all are capable ofproviding input in a plurality of directions or along a plurality ofaxes.

The track ball 1032 additionally is translatable toward the housing1006, i.e., into the plane of the page of FIG. 21, to provide additionalinputs. The track ball 1032 could be translated in such a fashion by,for example, a user applying an actuating force to the track ball 1032in a direction toward the housing 1006, such as by pressing on the trackball 1032. The inputs that are provided to the processor 1016 as aresult of a translation of the track ball 1032 in the indicated fashioncan be employed by the routines 1022, for example, as selection inputs,delimiter inputs, or other inputs.

The track ball 1032 is rotatable to provide, for example, navigationalinputs among the icons 1062. For example, FIG. 21 depicts the travel ofan indicator 1066 from the icon 1062A, as is indicated in broken lineswith the indicator 1066A, to the icon 1062B, as is indicated in brokenlines with the indicator 1066B, and onward to the icon 1062C, as isindicated by the indicator 1066C. It is understood that the indicators1066A, 1066B, and 1066C are not necessarily intended to besimultaneously depicted on the display 1060, but rather are intended totogether depict a series of situations and to indicate movement of theindicator 1066 among the icons 1062. The particular location of theindicator 1066 at any given time indicates to a user the particular icon1062, for example, that is the subject of a selection focus of thehandheld electronic device 1004. Whenever an icon 1062 or otherselectable object is the subject of the selection focus, a selectioninput to the processor 1016 will result in the routine 1022 or otherfunction represented by the icon 1062 or other selectable object to beexecuted or initiated.

The movement of the indicator 1066 from the icon 1062A, as indicatedwith the indicator 1066A, to the icon 1062B, as is indicated by theindicator 1066B, was accomplished by rotating the track ball 1032 aboutthe vertical axis 1034B to provide a horizontal navigational input. Asmentioned above, a rotation of the track ball 1032 a predeterminedrotational distance results in an input to the processor 1016. In thepresent example, the track ball 1032 would have been rotated about thevertical axis 1034B a rotational distance equal to three times thepredetermined rotational distance since the icon 1062B is disposed threeicons 1062 to the right the icon 1062A. Such rotation of the track ball1032 likely would have been made in a single motion by the user, butthis need not necessarily be the case.

Similarly, the movement of the indicator 1066 from the icon 1062B, asindicated by the indicator 1066B, to the icon 1062C, as is indicated bythe indicator 1066C, was accomplished by the user rotating the trackball 1032 about the horizontal axis 1034A to provide a verticalnavigational input. In so doing, the track ball 1032 would have beenrotated a rotational distance equal to two times the predeterminedrotational distance since the icon 1062C is disposed two icons 1062below the icon 1062B. Such rotation of the track ball 1032 likely wouldhave been made in a single motion by the user, but this need notnecessarily be the case.

It thus can be seen that the track ball 1032 is rotatable in variousdirections to provide various navigational and other inputs to theprocessor 1016. Rotational inputs by the track ball 1032 typically areinterpreted by whichever routine 1022 is active on the handheldelectronic device 1004 as inputs that can be employed by such routine1022. For example, the GUI 1022 that is active on the handheldelectronic device 1004 in FIG. 21 requires vertical and horizontalnavigational inputs to move the indicator 1066, and thus the selectionfocus, among the icons 1062. If a user rotated the track ball 1032 aboutan axis oblique to the horizontal axis 1034A and the vertical axis1034B, the GUI 1022 likely would resolve such an oblique rotation of thetrack ball 1032 into vertical and horizontal components which could thenbe interpreted by the GUI 1022 as vertical and horizontal navigationalmovements, respectively. In such a situation, if one of the resolvedvertical and horizontal navigational movements is of a greater magnitudethan the other, the resolved navigational movement having the greatermagnitude would be employed by the GUI 1022 as a navigational input inthat direction to move the indicator 1066 and the selection focus, andthe other resolved navigational movement would be ignored by the GUI1022, for example.

When the indicator 1066 is disposed on the icon 1062C, as is indicatedby the indicator 1066C, the selection focus of the handheld electronicdevice 1004 is on the icon 1062C. As such, a translation of the trackball 1032 toward the housing 1006 as described above would provide aninput to the processor 1016 that would be interpreted by the GUI 1022 asa selection input with respect to the icon 1062C. In response to such aselection input, the processor 1016 would, for example, begin to executea routine 1022 that is represented by the icon 1062C. It thus can beunderstood that the track ball 1032 is rotatable to provide navigationaland other inputs in multiple directions, assuming that the routine 1022that is currently active on the handheld electronic device 1004 canemploy such navigational or other inputs in a plurality of directions,and can also be translated to provide a selection input or other input.

Rotational movement inputs from the track ball 1032 could be employed tonavigate among, for example, the menus 1035A and 1035B. For instance,after an actuation of the <MENU> key 1033 and an outputting by the GUI1022 of a resultant menu, the user could rotate the track ball 1032 toprovide scrolling inputs to successively highlight the variousselectable options within the menu. Once the desired selectable optionis highlighted, i.e., is the subject of the selection focus, the usercould translate the track ball 1032 toward the housing 1006 to provide aselection input as to the highlighted selectable option. In this regard,it is noted that the <MENU> key 1033 is advantageously disposed adjacentthe track ball 1032. This enables, for instance, the generation of amenu by an actuation the <MENU> key 1033, conveniently followed by arotation the track ball 1032 to highlight a desired selectable option,for instance, followed by a translation of the track ball 1032 towardthe housing 1006 to provide a selection input to initiate the operationrepresented by the highlighted selectable option.

It is further noted that one of the additional inputs that can beprovided by a translation of the track ball 1032 is an input that causesthe GUI 1022 to output a reduced menu. For instance, a translation ofthe track ball 1032 toward the housing 1066 could result in thegeneration and output of a more limited version of a menu than wouldhave been generated if the <MENU> key 1033 had instead been actuated.Such a reduced menu would therefore be appropriate to the user's currentlogical location within the logical menu tree and would provide thoseselectable options which the user would have a high likelihood ofselecting. Rotational movements of the track ball 1032 could providescrolling inputs to scroll among the selectable options within thereduced menu 1035C, and translation movements of the track ball 1032could provide selection inputs to initiate whatever function isrepresented by the selectable option within the reduce menu 1032 that iscurrently highlighted.

By way of example, if instead of actuating the <MENU> key 1033 togenerate the menu 1035A the user translated the track ball 1032, the GUI1022 would generate and output on the display the reduced menu 1035Cthat is depicted generally in FIG. 24. The exemplary reduced menu 1035Cprovides as selectable options a number of the selectable options fromthe menu 1035A that the user would be most likely to select. As such, auser seeking to perform a relatively routine function could, instead ofactuating the <MENU> key 1033 to display the full menu 1035A, translatethe track ball 1032 to generate and output the reduced menu 1035C. Theuser could then conveniently rotate the track ball 1032 to providescrolling inputs to highlight a desired selectable option, and couldthen translate the track ball 1032 to provide a selection input whichwould initiate the function represented by the selectable option in thereduced menu 1035C that is currently highlighted.

In the present exemplary embodiment, many of the menus that could begenerated as a result of an actuation of the <MENU> key 1033 couldinstead be generated and output in reduced form as a reduced menu inresponse to a translation of the track ball 1032 toward the housing1006. It is noted, however, that a reduced menu might not be availablefor each full menu that could be generated from an actuation of the<MENU> key 1033. Depending upon the user's specific logical locationwithin the logical menu tree, a translation of the track ball 1032 mightbe interpreted as a selection input rather than an input seeking areduced menu. For instance, a translation of the track ball 1032 on thehome screen depicted in FIG. 21 would result in a selection input as towhichever of the icons 1062 is the subject of the input focus. If the<MENU> key 1033 was actuated on the home screen, the GUI 1022 wouldoutput a menu appropriate to the home screen, such as a full menu of allof the functions that are available on the handheld electronic device1004, including those that might not be represented by icons 1062 on thehome screen.

FIG. 25 depicts a quantity of text that is output on the display 1060,such as during a text entry operation or during a text editingoperation, for example. The indicator 1066 is depicted in FIG. 25 asbeing initially over the letter “L”, as is indicated with the indicator1066D, and having been moved horizontally to the letter “I”, as isindicated by the indicator 1066E, and thereafter vertically moved to theletter “W”, as is indicated by the indicator 1066F. In a fashion similarto that in FIG. 21, the cursor 1066 was moved among the letters “L”,“I”, and “W” through the use of horizontal and vertical navigationalinputs resulting from rotations of the track ball 1032. In the exampleof FIG. 25, however, each rotation of the track ball 1032 thepredetermined rotational distance would move the indicator 1066 to thenext adjacent letter. As such, in moving the indicator 1066 between theletters “L” and “I,” the user would have rotated the track ball 1032about the vertical axis 1034B a rotational distance equal to nine timesthe predetermined rotational distance, for example, since “I” isdisposed nine letters to the right of “L”.

FIG. 26 depicts an output 1064 on the display 1060 during, for example,a text entry operation that employs the disambiguation routine 1022. Theoutput 1064 can be said to comprise a text component 1068 and a variantcomponent 1072. The variant component 1072 comprises a default portion1076 and a variant portion 1080. FIG. 26 depicts the indicator 1066G onthe variant 1080 “HAV”, such as would result from a rotation of thetrack ball 1032 about the horizontal axis 1034A to provide a downwardvertical scrolling input. In this regard, it is understood that arotation of the track ball 1032 a distance equal to the predeterminedrotational distance would have moved the indicator 1066 from a position(not expressly depicted herein) disposed on the default portion 1076 tothe position disposed on the first variant 1080, as is depicted in FIG.26. Since such a rotation of the track ball 1032 resulted in the firstvariant 1080 “HAV” being highlighted with the indicator 1066G, the textcomponent 1068 likewise includes the text “HAV” immediately preceding acursor 1084A.

FIG. 27 depict an alternative output 1064A having an alternative variantcomponent 1072A having a default portion 1076A and a variant portion1080A. The variant component 1072A is horizontally arranged, meaningthat the default portion 1076A and the variants 1080A are disposedhorizontally adjacent one another and can be sequentially selected bythe user through the use of horizontal scrolling inputs, such as by theuser rotating the track ball 1032 the predetermined rotational distanceabout the vertical axis 1034B. This is to be contrasted with the variantcomponent 1072 of FIG. 26 wherein the default portion 1076 and thevariants 1080 are vertically arranged, and which can be sequentiallyselected by the user through the user of vertical scrolling inputs withthe track ball 1032.

In this regard, it can be understood that the track ball 1032 canprovide both the vertical scrolling inputs employed in conjunction withthe output 1064 as well as the horizontal scrolling inputs employed inconjunction with the output 1064A. For instance, the disambiguationroutine 1022 potentially could allow the user to customize the operationthereof by electing between the vertically arranged variant component1072 and the horizontally arranged variant component 1072A. The trackball 1032 can provide scrolling inputs in the vertical direction and/orthe horizontal direction, as needed, and thus is operable to provideappropriate scrolling inputs regardless of whether the user chooses thevariant component 1072 or the variant component 1072A. That is, thetrack ball 1032 can be rotated about the horizontal axis 1034A toprovide the vertical scrolling inputs employed in conjunction with thevariant component 1072, and also can be rotated about the vertical axis1034B to provide the horizontal scrolling inputs that are employed inconjunction with the variant component 1064A. The track ball 1032 thuscould provide appropriate navigational, strolling, selection, and otherinputs depending upon the needs of the routine 1022 active at any timeon the handheld electronic device 1004. The track ball 1032 enables suchnavigational, strolling, selection, and other inputs to be intuitivelygenerated by the user through rotations of the track ball 1032 indirections appropriate to the active routine 1022, such as might beindicated on the display 1060. Other examples will be apparent.

It can further be seen from FIG. 27 that the variant component 1072Aadditionally includes a value 1081 that is indicative of the languageinto which the disambiguation routine 1022 will interpret ambiguous textinput. In the example depicted in FIG. 27, the language is English.

As can be seen in FIG. 28, the value 1081 can be selected by the user tocause the displaying of a list 1083 of alternative values 1085. Thealternative values 1085 are indicative of selectable alternativelanguages into which the disambiguation routine 1022 can interpretambiguous input. A selection of the value 1081 would have been achieved,for example, by the user providing horizontal scrolling inputs with thetrack ball 1032 to cause (not expressly depicted herein) the indicator1066 to be disposed over the value 1081, and by thereafter translatingthe track ball 1032 toward the housing 1006 to provide a selectioninput.

The alternative values 1085 in the list 1083 are vertically arrangedwith respect to one another and with respect to the value 1081. As such,a vertical scrolling input with the track ball 1032 can result in avertical movement of the indicator 10661 to a position on one of thealternative values 1085 which, in the present example, is thealternative value 1085 “FR”, which is representative of the Frenchlanguage. The alternative value 1085 “FR” could become selected by theuser in any of a variety of fashions, such as by actuating the trackball 1032 again, by continuing to enter text, or in other fashions. Itthus can be understood from FIG. 27 and FIG. 28 that the track ball 1032can be rotated to provide horizontal scrolling inputs and, whenappropriate, to additionally provide vertical scrolling inputs and, whenappropriate, to additionally provide selection inputs, for example.

FIG. 29 depicts another exemplary output on the display 1060 such asmight be employed by a data entry routine 1022. The exemplary output ofFIG. 29 comprises a plurality of input fields 1087 with correspondingdescriptions. A cursor 1084D, when disposed within one of the inputfields 1087, indicates to the user that an input focus of the handheldelectronic device 1004 is on that input field 1087. That is, data suchas text, numbers, symbols, and the like, will be entered into whicheverinput field 1087 is active, i.e., is the subject of the input focus. Itis understood that the handheld electronic device 1004 might performother operations or take other actions depending upon which input field1087 is the subject of the input focus.

Navigational inputs from the track ball 1032 advantageously enable thecursor 1084D, and thus the input focus, to be switched, i.e., shifted,among the various input fields 1087. For example, the input fields 1087could include the input fields 1087A, 1087B, and 1087C. FIG. 29 depictsthe cursor 1084D as being disposed in the input field 1087C, indicatingthat the input field 1087C is the subject of the input focus of thehandheld electronic device 1004. It is understood that the cursor 1084D,and thus the input focus, can be shifted from the input field 1087C tothe input field 1087A, which is disposed adjacent and vertically abovethe input field 1087C, by providing a vertical scrolling input in theupward direction with the track ball 1032. That is, the track ball 1032would be rotated the predetermined rotational distance about thehorizontal axis 1034. Similarly, the cursor 1084D, and thus the inputfocus, can be shifted from the input field 1087A to the input field1087B, which is disposed adjacent and to the right of the input field1087A, by providing a horizontal scrolling input to the right with thetrack ball 1032. That is, such a horizontal scrolling input could beprovided by rotating the track ball the predetermined rotationaldistance about the vertical axis 1034B. It thus can be seen that thetrack ball 1032 is rotatable in a plurality of directions about aplurality axes to provide navigational, scrolling, and other inputs in aplurality of directions among a plurality of input fields 1087. Othertypes of inputs and/or inputs in other applications will be apparent.

Since the keypad 1024 and the track ball 1032 are advantageouslydisposed adjacent one another, the user can operate the track ball 1032substantially without moving the user's hands away from the keypad 1024during a text entry operation or other operation. It thus can be seenthat the track ball 1032 combines the benefits of both the thumbwheel 32and the <NEXT> key 40. It is noted, however, that other embodiments ofthe handheld electronic device 1004 (not expressly depicted herein)could include both the track ball 1032 and a <NEXT> key such as the<NEXT> key 40 without departing from the present concept.

An improved handheld electronic device 2004 in accordance with stillanother embodiment of the disclosed and claimed concept is depictedgenerally in FIG. 30 and FIG. 31. The handheld electronic device 2004includes a housing 2006 upon which is disposed a processor unit thatincludes an input apparatus 2008, an output apparatus 2012, a processor2016, a memory 2020, and a number of routines 2022. All of theoperations that can be performed on or with the handheld electronicdevices 4 and/or 1004 can be performed on or with the handheldelectronic device 2004. As such, the features of the handheld electronicdevice 2004 that are common with the handheld electronic devices 4and/or 1004, and this would comprise essentially all of the features ofthe handheld electronic devices 4 and/or 1004, will generally not berepeated.

As a general matter, the handheld electronic device 2004 issubstantially identical in configuration and function to the handheldelectronic device 1004, except that the handheld electronic device 2004includes a touch screen display 2055 that provides a non-mechanicalmultiple-axis input device 2032 instead of the track ball 1032. Themultiple-axis input device 2032 can be said to be in the form of avirtual track ball 2032.

As is generally understood, the touch screen display 2055 includes aliquid crystal layer between a pair of substrates, with each substrateincluding an electrode. The electrodes form a grid which defines theaperture size of the pixels. When a charge is applied to the electrodes,the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer become alignedgenerally perpendicular to the two substrates. A display input/outputsubassembly 2053 of the output apparatus 2012 controls the location ofthe charge applied to the electrodes thereby enabling the formation ofimages on the touch screen display 2055.

Additionally, the touch screen display 2055 comprises a sensor assembly2057 which comprises an output device 2059 and a plurality of detectors2061. The detectors 2061 are shown schematically and are typically toosmall to be seen by the naked eye. Each detector 2061 is in electricalcommunication with the output device 2059 and creates an output signalwhen actuated. The detectors 2061 are disposed in a pattern, discussedbelow, and are structured to detect an external object immediatelyadjacent to, or touching, the touch screen display 2055. The externalobject is typically a stylus or a user's finger (not shown). The outputdevice 2059 and/or the processor 2016 are structured to receive thedetector signals and convert the signals to data representing thelocation of the external object relative to the touch screen display2055. As such, while the sensor assembly 2057 is physically a componentof the touch screen display 2055, it is nevertheless considered to be alogical component of the input apparatus 2008 since it provides input tothe processor apparatus.

The detectors 2061 are typically capacitive detectors, opticaldetectors, resistive detectors, or mechanical detectors such as straingauge or charged grid, although other technologies may be employedwithout departing from the present concept. Typically, capacitivedetectors are structured to detect a change in capacitance caused by theelectrical field of the external object or a change in capacitancecaused by the compression of the capacitive detector. Optical detectorsare structured to detect a reflection of light, e.g., light created bythe touch screen display 2055. Mechanical detectors include a chargedgrid with columns that would be disposed on one side of the touch screendisplay 2055 and a corresponding grid without columns would be disposedat another location on the touch screen display 2055. In such aconfiguration, when the touch screen display 2055 is compressed, i.e. asa result of being touched by the user, the columns at the area ofcompression contact the opposing grid thereby completing a circuit.

Capacitive detectors may be disposed upon either substrate and, althoughsmall, require space. Thus, and any pixel that is disposed adjacent adetector 2061 will have a reduced size, or aperture, to accommodate theadjacent detector 2061.

The detectors 2061 are disposed in a pattern, and at least some of thedetectors 2061 preferably are arranged in lines that form a grid. Afirst portion of the detectors 2061 are disposed on a first area 2081 ofthe touch screen display 2055, and a second portion of the detectors2061 are disposed on a second area 2083 of the touch screen display2055. As can be seen from FIG. 30, the first area 2081 essentially isevery region of the touch screen display 2005 other than the second area2083.

The first portion of the detectors 2061 disposed on the first area 2081of the touch screen display 2055 are disposed in a relatively sparsepattern in order to minimize the visual interference that is caused bythe presence of the detectors 2061 adjacent the pixels. Preferably, thespacing of the detectors 2061 on the first area 2081 is between about1.0 mm and 10.0 mm between the detectors 2061, and more preferably about3.0 mm between the detectors 2061.

The second portion of the detectors 2061 are disposed in a relativelydense pattern on the second area 2083 of the touch screen display 2055and are structured to support the function of the virtual track ball2032. The image quality in the second area 2083 of the touch screendisplay 2055 is adversely affected due to the dense spacing of thedetectors 2061 there. However, the second area 2083 is a relativelysmall area compared to the entire touch screen display 2055. Preferably,the density of the detectors 2061 in the second area 2083 is betweenabout 0.05 mm and 3.0 mm between the detectors, and more preferablyabout 0.1 mm between the detectors 2061. Further, because the pixels inthe second area 2083 are dedicated for the virtual track ball 2032, itis acceptable to have a reduced pixel density with larger pixels. Sincethe pixel size would be very large, the aspect ratio would besignificantly higher than that of pixels that are not disposed adjacenta detector 2061. The pixels in the second area 2083 likely would bespecial function pixels, such as pixels that would both depict thevirtual track ball 2032 and that would light up the second area 2083 tohighlight the virtual track ball 2032.

The processor apparatus is structured to create images and define theboundaries of selectable portions of the images on the touch screendisplay 2055. For example, the processor apparatus will create theimages of selectable icons or other objects on specific portions of thetouch screen display 2055. The processor apparatus is further structuredto relate specific detectors 2061 to the specific portions of the touchscreen display 2055. Thus, when the processor apparatus detects theactuation of a specific detector 2061 adjacent to a specific image, e.g.a selectable icon, the processor apparatus will initiate the function orroutine related to that icon, e.g. opening a calendar program.

Similarly, the processor apparatus is structured to employ specificdetectors 2061 to support the function of the virtual track ball 2032 inthe second area 2083 of the touch screen display 2055. Thus, actuationsof one or more of the detectors 2061 that support the virtual track ball2032 will be interpreted by the processor apparatus as being inputs fromthe virtual track ball 2032. For instance, an actuation of a sequentialplurality of detectors 2061 extending along a particular direction onthe touch screen display 2055 in the second area 2083 might beinterpreted as a navigational input, a scrolling input, a selectioninput, and/or another input in the particular direction. Since the usercan freely move a finger, for instance, in any direction on the touchscreen display 2055, the virtual track ball 2032 is a multiple-axisinput device. Other inputs, such as a non-moving actuation of one ormore detectors 2061 in the central region of the virtual track ball 2032could be interpreted by the processor apparatus as an actuation input ofthe virtual track ball 2032, such as would be generated by an actuationof the track ball 1032 of the handheld electronic device 1004 in adirection toward the housing 1006 thereof. It can be understood thatother types of actuations of the detectors 2061 in the second area 2083can be interpreted as various other inputs without departing from thedisclosed and claimed concept.

The handheld electronic device 2004 thus comprises a multiple-axis inputdevice 2032 that is non-mechanical but that still provides the samefunctional features and advantages as, say, the track ball 1032 of thehandheld electronic device 1004. It is understood that the virtual trackball 2032 is but one example of the many types of multiple-axis inputdevices that could be employed on the handheld electronic device 2004.

While specific embodiments of the concept have been described in detail,it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and alternatives to those details could be developed inlight of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, theparticular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only andnot limiting as to the scope of the concept which is to be given thefull breadth of the claims appended and any and all equivalents thereof.

1. A method of editing delimited ambiguous input on a handheldelectronic device, the handheld electronic device including an inputapparatus, an output apparatus, and a memory having a plurality ofobjects stored therein, the plurality of objects including a pluralityof language objects and a plurality of frequency objects having afrequency value, the input apparatus including a plurality of inputmembers, at least one of the input members having a plurality oflinguistic elements assigned thereto, the method comprising: detecting aselection of a language object generated from a first delimitedambiguous input; outputting a plurality of language objects which arecomplete word solutions of said first delimited ambiguous input, as wellas an edit option; and detecting a selection of the edit option.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising detecting the input of a languageobject that is a second delimited ambiguous input.
 3. The method ofclaim 2 wherein detecting the input of a language object that is asecond delimited ambiguous input comprises detecting a number of inputmember actuations, said input member actuations altering said firstdelimited ambiguous input.
 4. The method of claim 2 wherein detectingthe input of a language object that is a second delimited ambiguousinput comprises detecting a number of input member actuations of atleast one of a number of input members having a plurality of linguisticelements assigned thereto.
 5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:generating a number of language objects in response to detecting theinput of a language object that is a second delimited ambiguous input;and outputting at least one of said number of language objects generatedin response to detecting the input of a language object that is a seconddelimited ambiguous input.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein generating anumber of language objects in response to detecting the input of alanguage object that is a second delimited ambiguous input furthercomprises: generating a number of prefix objects corresponding with saidsecond delimited ambiguous input; identifying a number of languageobjects corresponding with said number of prefix objects, each of saidnumber of language objects being associated with a frequency objecthaving a frequency value; associating the frequency value for each ofsaid number of language objects with the corresponding prefix object;and generating an output set from at least some of said number of prefixobjects.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: storing saidoutput set; and associating said output set with said second delimitedambiguous input.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:outputting an output including at least a portion of said output set;and sorting said output in descending order of said frequency valuesassociated with said number of prefix objects in said at least a portionof said output set.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein said detecting aselection of a language object generated from a first delimitedambiguous input comprises at least one of detecting a dwelling at saidlanguage object with a cursor, detecting an actuation of a return keywhen said cursor is at said language object, detecting an actuation of athumbwheel when said cursor is at said language object, and detecting anactuation of a space key when the cursor is at said language object. 10.The method of claim 1, wherein said outputting a plurality of languageobjects which are complete word solutions of said first delimitedambiguous input, as well as an edit option further comprises: providinga delete option; and detecting a selection of the delete option.
 11. Ahandheld electronic device comprising: a processor unit comprising aprocessor, an input apparatus, an output apparatus, and a memory havinga routine stored therein, the processor unit being structured to: detecta selection of a language object generated from a first delimitedambiguous input; output a plurality of language objects which arecomplete word solutions of said first delimited ambiguous input, as wellas an edit option; and detect a selection of the edit option.
 12. Thehandheld electronic device of claim 11 wherein said processor unit isfurther structured to detect the input of a language object that is asecond delimited ambiguous input.
 13. The handheld electronic device ofclaim 12 wherein for detecting the input of a language object that is asecond delimited ambiguous input, said processor unit is furtherstructured to detect said input member actuations altering said firstdelimited ambiguous input.
 14. The handheld electronic device of claim12 wherein for detecting the input of a language object that is a seconddelimited ambiguous input said processor unit is further structured todetect a number of input member actuations of at least one of a numberof input members having a plurality of linguistic elements assignedthereto.
 15. The handheld electronic device of claim 14 wherein saidprocessor unit is further structured to: generate a number of languageobjects in response to detecting said second delimited ambiguous input;and output at least one of said number of language objects generated inresponse to detecting said second delimited ambiguous input.
 16. Thehandheld electronic device of claim 15 wherein for generating a numberof language objects in response to detecting the input of a languageobject that is a second delimited ambiguous input said processor unit isfurther structured to: generate a number of prefix objects correspondingwith said second delimited ambiguous input; identify a number oflanguage objects corresponding with said number of prefix objects, eachof said number of language objects being associated with a frequencyobject having a frequency value; associate the frequency value for eachof said number of language objects with the corresponding prefix object;and generate an output set from at least some of said number of prefixobjects.
 17. The handheld electronic device of claim 16, wherein saidprocessor unit is further structured to: store said output set; andassociate said output set with said second delimited ambiguous input.18. The handheld electronic device of claim 16, wherein said processorunit is further structured to: output an output including at least aportion of said output set; and sort said output in descending order ofsaid frequency values associated with said number of prefix objects insaid at least a portion of said output set.
 19. The handheld electronicdevice of claim 11 wherein for said detecting a selection of a languageobject generated from a first delimited ambiguous input said processorunit is further structured to perform at least one of detecting adwelling at said language object with a cursor, detecting an actuationof a return key when said cursor is at said language object; detectingan actuation of a thumbwheel when said cursor is at said languageobject; and detecting an actuation of a space key when the cursor is atsaid language object.
 20. The handheld electronic device of claim 11,wherein for outputting a plurality of language objects which arecomplete word solutions of said first delimited ambiguous input, as wellas an edit option said processor unit is further structured to: providea delete option; and detect a selection of the delete option.